Former Russian Pm Says Country Will Begin To Question Putin S Leadership As Sanctions Hit Harder

Mikhail Kasyanov served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004 – some of Putin’s first years as president – but now leads an opposition party in Russia. Kasyanov is currently out of the country to avoid prosecution by state authorities. “Half the population is completely fooled by propaganda, so for a while they will continue to believe that Putin is right,” he said in an interview with Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday. Kasyanov said people in Russia would soon feel the effects of the sanctions, “especially middle-class people living in big cities.” “All these explanations given by propaganda – people can not eat this every day,” said Rosemary Burton, CBC’s chief political correspondent. Putin “no longer pretends to be a democratically committed man,” said Kasyanov, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004. (Alexander Demyanchuk / The Associated Press)
Kasyanov said Putin had completely changed in the two decades since they had served together in government. “He no longer pretends to be a democratically committed man, he is a real KGB agent [now],” he said. Kasyanov said he believed that once Putin was considered a loser in Ukraine, many Russians would begin to doubt his leadership and that there could be regime change in the country within two years. Putin remains popular in Russia, according to opinion polls, although experts disagree on how accurate polls can be in a country where opposition voices are regularly arrested and suppressed and information is tightly controlled.

Oil exports finance Russia’s “war machine”, says Ukrainian minister

Ukraine, meanwhile, is facing a “rather difficult situation” in terms of its own financial resources, according to its finance minister. In a separate interview broadcast Sunday, Serhiy Marchenko told Barton that his country faces a $ 5 billion-a-month budget deficit. He said this was because Ukraine had lost about half of its revenue since the start of the war in late February. “We need $ 5 billion a month for the next three months. We need this bridge to the new regularity,” Marchenko said, expressing optimism that the international community would step in to help. Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, at the center, was among government officials who walked out of a G20 summit in April. (Chrystia Freeland / Twitter)
North American and European countries have already pledged billions in loans and grants to Ukraine, with the US government recently seeking authorization from Congress to raise another $ 33 billion in security, financial and humanitarian assistance. Canada has offered Ukraine up to $ 1.6 billion in loans. The federal government also recently moved to give itself the power to seize frozen Russian assets and sell them to help fund aid efforts, something Marchenko approved. “I think we can use the frozen Russian assets to seize them in a way that will help Ukraine rebuild,” he said. Marchenko called on the international community to take more radical steps to halt imports of Russian oil and gas. Energy from Russia is increasingly being targeted by Ukraine’s allies. Russia has cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week as Germany seeks to speed up its transition away from Russian energy. While economic sanctions hit Russia, Marchenko said the country could still benefit from high energy prices. “Russia, unfortunately for us, is receiving extra money [from energy exports] “to cover their war machine,” he said. You can watch the full episodes of Rosemary Barton live CBC Gem, the CBC streaming service.

title: “Former Russian Pm Says Country Will Begin To Question Putin S Leadership As Sanctions Hit Harder Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Maria Faunce”

Mikhail Kasyanov served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004 – some of Putin’s first years as president – but now leads an opposition party in Russia. Kasyanov is currently out of the country to avoid prosecution by state authorities. “Half the population is completely fooled by propaganda, so for a while they will continue to believe that Putin is right,” he said in an interview with Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday. Kasyanov said people in Russia would soon feel the effects of the sanctions, “especially middle-class people living in big cities.” “All these explanations given by propaganda – people can not eat this every day,” said Rosemary Burton, CBC’s chief political correspondent. Putin “no longer pretends to be a democratically committed man,” said Kasyanov, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004. (Alexander Demyanchuk / The Associated Press)
Kasyanov said Putin had completely changed in the two decades since they had served together in government. “He no longer pretends to be a democratically committed man, he is a real KGB agent [now],” he said. Kasyanov said he believed that once Putin was considered a loser in Ukraine, many Russians would begin to doubt his leadership and that there could be regime change in the country within two years. Putin remains popular in Russia, according to opinion polls, although experts disagree on how accurate polls can be in a country where opposition voices are regularly arrested and suppressed and information is tightly controlled.

Oil exports finance Russia’s “war machine”, says Ukrainian minister

Ukraine, meanwhile, is facing a “rather difficult situation” in terms of its own financial resources, according to its finance minister. In a separate interview broadcast Sunday, Serhiy Marchenko told Barton that his country faces a $ 5 billion-a-month budget deficit. He said this was because Ukraine had lost about half of its revenue since the start of the war in late February. “We need $ 5 billion a month for the next three months. We need this bridge to the new regularity,” Marchenko said, expressing optimism that the international community would step in to help. Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, at the center, was among government officials who walked out of a G20 summit in April. (Chrystia Freeland / Twitter)
North American and European countries have already pledged billions in loans and grants to Ukraine, with the US government recently seeking authorization from Congress to raise another $ 33 billion in security, financial and humanitarian assistance. Canada has offered Ukraine up to $ 1.6 billion in loans. The federal government also recently moved to give itself the power to seize frozen Russian assets and sell them to help fund aid efforts, something Marchenko approved. “I think we can use the frozen Russian assets to seize them in a way that will help Ukraine rebuild,” he said. Marchenko called on the international community to take more radical steps to halt imports of Russian oil and gas. Energy from Russia is increasingly being targeted by Ukraine’s allies. Russia has cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week as Germany seeks to speed up its transition away from Russian energy. While economic sanctions hit Russia, Marchenko said the country could still benefit from high energy prices. “Russia, unfortunately for us, is receiving extra money [from energy exports] “to cover their war machine,” he said. You can watch the full episodes of Rosemary Barton live CBC Gem, the CBC streaming service.