West should help Ukraine’s economy, not give promises – Russian PM

Dmitry Medvedev file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2014) Europe and America should stop talking about the need to help Ukraine and finally do something to help its economy, Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev has said.

“All those who talk about the need to help Ukraine should finally do something for Ukraine. I mean our European partners and partners across the ocean. Let them give at least one dollar,” Medvedev told a news conference in Moscow.

“Endless promises: we’ll give a billion, we’ll transfer 5bn… [ellipsis as published] Well, let them give something,” he added.

Medvedev recalled that Russia had only recently granted Ukraine a Eurobond loan of 3bn dollars, and stressed that IMF chief Christine Lagarde had recently showed appreciation for Russia’s help, saying that this money “played quite a substantial part in creating macroeconomic stability for a certain period”.

“I believe that time has come for our European partners, the USA, to finally do something for the Ukrainian economy. I stress, specifically for the economy: not make secret visits, not instruct militants but do something useful,” Medvedev said.

[Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev saying: “The Ukrainian economy is in a very difficult position. We understand this, and that is why we are, of course, monitoring very attentively what is happening there. Regardless of other political factors. We are sorry for the people who live in these conditions, who simply do not receive wages and pensions in this situation.”

He said Russia had been giving Ukraine economic support for a long time, RIA Novosti said, and added that the “huge sums” that the Ukrainian authorities received in discounts for gas “could and should” have been spent on the development of the country and its economy. “I’ll tell you bluntly: they did not spend this money on what they should have,” he added.]

 

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