Telegraph: Putin is close to winning the battle with the West

Russian President Vladimir PutinMOSCOW, 17 Feb. Russian President Vladimir Putin is close to winning the battle for the post-Soviet space. This opinion was expressed by journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in an article for The Telegraph. Russia, the publication notes, has accumulated foreign exchange reserves in the amount of $635 billion, which have become the fifth largest in the world and continue to grow. The country's public debt is 18% of GDP, the sixth largest in the world and continues to decline. Moscow has cleaned up the banking system and has a well-managed, floating currency, allowing the economy to adjust to serious situations. Russia has a budget surplus and does not resort to attracting foreign investors to cover government spending. The country has reduced its reliance on government oil revenues, Evans-Pritchard said. Such a course contrasts sharply with the profligate social and economic systems of the West, where money is «thrown from helicopters» and the budget plays a dominant role, the author of the material said.British talk about Biden's fear of PutinEvans-Pritchard also noted that official Moscow could cut off all gas supplies to Europe (41% of supplies to the EU) for two years or more, without facing serious financial constraints. «The Russian president has a unique chance to violate the agreements concluded after the end of the Cold War and restore Russia's dominance in the near abroad. None of the sanctions from the current list of calculations will change it,» he concluded journalist. The West has recently accused Russia of escalating the situation around Ukraine. The Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry deny all accusations, emphasizing that Russia is not involved in the internal Ukrainian conflict and does not violate any agreements, unlike Kiev, which refuses to comply with the Minsk agreements.Read the full text of the article on the InoSMI website >>< /strong>