Ukraine gets 155-mm artillery, Harpoon missiles
Russia needs huge financial resources for its military operation in Ukraine, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday, putting the amount of budget stimulus for the economy at 8 trillion roubles ($120 billion).
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, which prompted the West to impose sanctions against Moscow that have already fanned inflation to near 18% and pushed the country to the brink of recession. “Money, huge resources are needed for the special operation,” Siluanov said in a lecture at a Moscow financial university.
President Vladimir Putin this week ordered 10% rises in pensions and the minimum wage to cushion Russians from inflation, but denied the economic problems were all linked to what Russia calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine. The measures would cost the federal budget around 600 billion roubles this year and about 1 trillion roubles in 2023, Siluanov said earlier this week.
In a TV interview aired late on Friday, Siluanov said Russia will receive up to 1 trillion roubles in extra oil and gas revenues this year, funds which will be channelled to pay for increased social welfare payments. Earlier on Friday, Siluanov also defended capital controls and asset freezes for foreign investors from “unfriendly” countries that Moscow imposed in response to Western sanctions.
Meanwhile, Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, said, “Three types of 155-mm artillery — the M777 howitzer, FH70 howitzer, and Caesar self-propelled howitzer — are already being used successfully on the front line. It was just impossible to imagine this back in March. But today this is a reality.
I’m happy to report the news that the 155-mm artillery fleet is being replenished. M109 howitzers of one of the modifications have already arrived in Ukraine. –Agencies
