Percent sign. File photo MOSCOW, May 7 Western banks have set aside more than $10 billion in anticipation of losses if they leave Russia, the Financial Times reported, citing its own calculations. According to the publication, the sanctions that were imposed against Russia, due to a special military operation in Ukraine, forced banks to consider leaving the country. The newspaper notes that Western banks «reserve more than $ 10 billion in anticipation of losses from their enterprises.» The publication mentions that the Italian banking group Unicredit, in particular, has reserved 1.3 billion euros to cover possible losses in Russia and warned that it could suffer losses of 5.3 billion euros if its business in the country is terminated. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
