Russian companies can work “quietly” in Crimea, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday assured that massive sanctions against Moscow will now allow the country's companies to settle “quietly” on the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

“The large Russian groups, who feared sanctions, now have nothing to fear. They can calmly come to the peninsula, in particular banks, and work actively in the region,” Putin declared.

“Restrictions against Russia create numerous problems; but that's not all, they also open up new possibilities,” he added, at a government meeting on the economic situation in Crimea, eight years after its annexation by Moscow.

Following this annexation, followed by a first train of Western sanctions against Moscow, several major Russian groups had not invested in Crimea, for fear of being sanctioned.

But in retaliation for the Russian military intervention in Ukraine that began on February 24, Westerners adopted new sanctions of historic magnitude against several Russian companies.

These sanctions have paralyzed part of the country's banking and financial system and caused the ruble to collapse, in addition to triggering inflation

In the face of these sanctions, Putin promised on Wednesday to raise “the vital minimum, the salaries of civil servants”, as well as retirements, to overcome the Western economic “lightning war”.

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