Putin tells enterprise elite: Do not beg for Western cash, put money into Russia

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin took a swipe at Russia’s enterprise elite on Tuesday, urging these “begging” for cash within the West to take a position at residence as a substitute and telling them that bizarre Russians had no sympathy for his or her misplaced yachts and palaces.

“Making an attempt to run round along with your hand outstretched, grovelling, begging for cash, is pointless,” Putin mentioned in a televised deal with to Russia’s political, navy and enterprise elite.

“Launch new initiatives, generate profits, put money into Russia,” he mentioned. “That is how you’ll multiply your capital and earn individuals’s recognition and gratitude for generations to return.”

Russian oligarchs and enterprise individuals have fallen beneath the scope of sweeping Western sanctions in response to Moscow sending tens of 1000’s of troops into Ukraine virtually one 12 months in the past, with property and yachts among the many belongings frozen or seized.

“Latest occasions have convincingly proven that the picture of the West as a secure haven, a refuge for capital, is a phantom, a faux,” Putin mentioned.

No bizarre residents felt sympathy for individuals who misplaced cash in international banks or have been compelled to surrender their yachts and palaces overseas, Putin mentioned, remembering Russia’s Nineties privatisation drive that noticed state companies bought for subsequent to nothing and the “ostentatious luxurious of the so-called new elites”.

Putin welcomed what he mentioned was a long-overdue structural transformation of the Russian financial system on account of the battle in Ukraine and mentioned it was harmful for Russian corporations to be depending on the West.

Russia’s federal statistics service Rosstat on Tuesday estimated the nation’s 2022 GDP fall at 2.1%, whereas the central financial institution put it at 2.5%. Both approach, these estimates are a far cry from Moscow’s early fears of a double-digit drop as Western sanctions hit.

Putin extolled Russia’s restricted financial contraction final 12 months as proof of the nation’s resilience. He mentioned it was reacting shortly to challenges and placing the financial system ready to “unlock Russia’s huge potential”.

The concentrate on home funding was an inward shift, however Russia can also be eyeing up new markets. Putin described the Asia-Pacific area as one of many new, promising international markets.

China’s prime diplomat was because of arrive in Moscow on Tuesday. Beijing and Moscow struck a “no limits” partnership final 12 months.

Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Enhancing by Mark Trevelyan

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