Russian leader Vladimir Putin has called on his country’s banks not to hesitate and operate in the annexed areas of Ukraine. “What they used to fear, the sanctions, happened a long time ago. Why be afraid?,” Putin said in Moscow on Wednesday during a meeting on the region’s social and economic development. “You need to go to these areas more actively and work there,” he said, according to the Tass agency.
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which was previously Ukrainian. After the 2022 invasion, Moscow also declared the Ukrainian administrative regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson as Russian territory, in violation of international law. Russian troops militarily control only part of these areas. Russian banks were already cautious about participating in Crimea due to Western sanctions. They are also hardly represented in other regions.
Pension payments only to recipients with a Russian passport
Putin spoke of a rapid integration of the areas into Russian structures. Two million people were already receiving regular pensions and other payments, he said. By 2025 there should be five million people. In fact, the occupying power is reportedly linking pension payments to Ukrainians living there who accept Russian passports. The Kremlin chief set a goal of bringing the areas that, as he said, historically belonged to Russia, to an average Russian standard of living by 2030.
Source: Krone
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