The French Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, warned on Tuesday that Westerners “are going to cause the collapse of the russian economy” and was sure that the sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine are being effective.
In an interview with the public radio station France Info, Le Maire stressed that the international measures to freeze Russian assets in total will affect nearly one billion euros.
“We are going to wage a total economic and financial war on Russia” and “the Russian people will also pay the consequences,” said the French minister, who considered that the sanctions are already beginning to produce effects.
In this sense, he indicated that the ruble has depreciated by 30%, that the Central Bank of Russia has had to double its interest rates to 20%, which makes financing more expensive for companies, and that its foreign exchange reserves are melting “like snow in the sun.”
He warned that work is being done “if necessary” on a strengthening of the sanctions, an issue that will be discussed this afternoon in a videoconference meeting of the G7 finance ministers and tomorrow in another of the European Union: ” Together we have considerable power of action.”
On the possibility of stopping buying Russian oil and gas, which are Russia’s main sources of income, he acknowledged that “it is very complicated for a certain number of European countries.”
Le Maire stated that if it were only for France, which is only 20% dependent on Russian gas, “we would probably have gone further”, but there are other countries in central and eastern Europe that are 100% dependent.
On this point, he acknowledged that the priority is to “maintain the unity” of the Europeans, but in any case he insisted that with the train of international sanctions “it is Russia that is going to suffer, not Europe”, where the expected consequence is “a small price increase”.
Asked about the freezing of the assets and property of 488 Russian personalities identified by the European Union for their proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he advanced that work is being done so that “the freezing becomes a seizure.”
Although he said he could not yet give figures on the action of his services to identify these assets and goods in France because it is a complex process, he assured that the personalities subject to sanction will not be able to withdraw and take the money.
The minister also announced that he is going to speak with the CEOs of TotalEnergies and Engie, the two large French companies in the energy sector with major interests in Russia, to ask them about maintaining their activity there.
“There is a question of principle” about working with Russian executives close to Putin, said Le Maire, who did not want to be more explicit about whether he will ask them to abandon their business there, but explained that TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné , “is aware of the seriousness of the situation” and there will be decisions “in the coming days.”
