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Putin: Russian Banks Must Stay in Ukraine to Ensure Economic Stability

© RIA Novosti . Alexei Druzhinin / Go to the mediabankRussian President Vladimir Putin says Russian banks should continue working in Ukraine despite current difficulties because their exit from the country would hurt Ukrainian economy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russian banks should continue working in Ukraine despite current difficulties because their exit from the country would hurt Ukrainian economy. - Sputnik International
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Russian banks should continue working in Ukraine despite current difficulties because their exit from the country would hurt Ukrainian economy, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

Updated 6:36 p.m. Moscow Time

NOVO OGARYOVO (outside Moscow), September 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian banks should continue working in Ukraine despite current difficulties because their exit from the country would hurt Ukrainian economy, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

"The work, without doubt, should continue. Primarily, because Russian banks make 30 percent of the Ukrainian banking sector, and if we suspend our work, it would be an additional, serious hit at the Ukrainian economy," Putin said at a meeting with the head of Russia's VTB bank, Andrei Kostin.

The president stressed that Russia was interested in having a reliable and stable partner.

"That is why, despite all challenges, the work should continue, especially since, as I understand, we have established partnership with National Bank of Ukraine," Putin added.

VTB has lost around 26 billion rubles ($674 million) so far this year because of the Ukrainian crisis, Kostin said at the meeting, adding that the bank will not halt its operations in Ukraine.

"Problems are connected, first of all, with the sharp deterioration of the economic situation in Ukraine, negative growth, rapid devaluation of the national currency, the hryvnia. And in general, the political situation, the war in Ukraine led to a sharp reduction in payment discipline… We have already lost about 26 billion since the beginning of the year. I think [losses] will double by the end of the year," the bank's chief executive said.

"We intend to continue our work, despite the fact that, of course, there are rather difficult working conditions there," Kostin added.

Ukraine has been undergoing an economic crisis since the ousting of then-President Viktor Yanukovych and the breakdown of trading with Russia. Ukraine's inflation rate is running above 14 percent. Kiev was granted access to IMF funding but its levels public debt continue to rise. The nation's currency, the hryvnia, has been trading near record lows in spite of currency controls. It fell by an unprecedented 11 percent on Friday.

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