“We are going to convey in regards to the collapse of the Russian economic system,” Bruno Le Maire advised the Franceinfo broadcaster on Tuesday morning after France, the EU and others mentioned they might impose a brand new spherical of sanctions on Moscow.
“The financial and monetary steadiness of energy is completely in favour of the European Union which is within the means of discovering its personal financial energy,” he mentioned.
“We’re waging whole financial and monetary battle on Russia,” he mentioned.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who’s now deputy chair of the Russian Safety Council, responded on Twitter that “some French minister has mentioned that they declared an financial battle on Russia. Watch your tongue, gents!
“And do not forget that in human historical past, financial wars very often was actual ones,” he added.
Le Maire later advised AFP that his language had been “inappropriate”, including that “we’re not in battle with the Russian folks.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to maintain open a dialogue with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, with the 2 males talking once more on Monday.
However French ministers have been utilizing more and more blunt rhetoric to explain the Western technique of making an attempt to strangle Russia’s economic system and trigger ache for Putin’s enterprise allies.
“The oligarchs must be careful as a result of the checklist of oligarchs which have been focused by the EU could be very giant,” French Overseas Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian advised the BFM channel late Monday.
He mentioned they have been being hit “not solely of their share portfolios but additionally with the chance — and we’ll do it in France — of asset seizures.
“So if I used to be an oligarch, in Russia or France, I might be frightened.”
On Monday, the EU added extra Kremlin-linked oligarchs and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman to its sanctions blacklist.
Among the many high-profile names have been Igor Sechin, head of state oil large Rosneft, and Nikolay Tokarev, boss of pipeline mammoth Transneft.
Three males ranked inside Russia’s 10 high richest by Forbes have been additionally added: metals magnate Alexei Mordashov, tycoon Alisher Usmanov, and businessman and Putin buddy Gennady Timchenko.
Le Drian added: “I hope he (Putin) realises how the steadiness of energy has shifted and that he has misplaced the data battle.”
French power
Le Maire mentioned the full quantity of Russian property being frozen amounted to “nearly 1,000 billion {dollars}”.
After the Russian central financial institution raised its key rate of interest to twenty p.c on Monday, “firms can solely borrow at excessive charges”, Le Maire mentioned.
He acknowledged that atypical Russians would additionally endure from the affect of the sanctions, “however we do not know the way we are able to deal with this in a different way”.
Le Maire mentioned he would speak to France’s two power giants TotalEnergies and Engie within the coming days to determine on their involvement in Russian power tasks.
There was now “an issue of precept” with any collaboration with folks near Putin, Le Maire mentioned.
His remarks, which got here after different power majors together with Shell and BP introduced that they might pull out of Russia, precipitated Engie’s share worth to droop by 5 p.c in early Paris bourse buying and selling Tuesday.
Engie is notably concerned in Russia’s pipeline challenge Nord Stream 2, which Germany final week placed on maintain when Moscow recognised two Ukrainian breakaway republics.
TotalEnergies pledged Tuesday that it “is not going to make investments any new capital in new tasks in Russia” — however didn’t say whether or not it might pull in another country.
The group makes between three and 5 p.c of its annual gross sales in Russia and owns a 19.4-percent stake in gasoline group Novatek and 20 p.c in Yamal LNG, a liquefied gasoline specialist, amongst others.
The group mentioned it approves “the dimensions of sanctions put in place by Europe” towards Russia and pledged to implement them.
