Zelenskyy: Putin understands that a year will bring tangible problems in the Russian economy, two years will bring much bigger ones
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the current economic situation of the aggressor country is a means of pressure on Russia during the negotiations. The head of state said this during a conversation with journalists on August 20.
Zelenskyy was asked what leverage Ukraine has to force Moscow to make concessions.
"Everything not so bad on the battlefield, as Russia describes it. The situation is not easy, it's complicated. He [Russian dictator Vladimir Putin] many more people – it is a fact. Weapons are a fact. But its economy is cracking – a fact. The fact that he is increasing part of the production is a fact, but he will not be able to increase it enough, and it will fall if things continue to go on like this is also a fact," the president replied.
According to him, the degradation of the Russian economy will continue: "And he [Putin] understands this, I think that in a year he will have significant problems, in two years he will have much bigger problems, and so on."
Therefore, according to the head of state, Russians are thinking about how to end the war, but with some kind of "victory for themselves."
"I think they [the occupiers] invented a victory for themselves – our withdrawal from Donbas. I think this is what they have invented as a victory – what they want to sell inside their state," Zelenskyy summarized.
During the same event, the president spoke about Russia's demand to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Donbas: "I think it's just his [Putin's] reproach, and he realizes that it's not going to happen. Maybe he's counting on that, because he doesn't want to end the war. He gives you some conditions in advance so that you cannot accept them."
- In August, the Russian Ministry of Finance reported that the budget deficit of the aggressor country for seven months exceeded the annual plan by a quarter and reached 4.88 trillion rubles ($61.44 billion).
- The Foreign Intelligence Service reports that at least six large Russian companies have introduced a four-day work week, additional days off, and reduced salaries due to economic problems.
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