Putin Admits Economic ‘Difficulties’ as Interest Rates Skyrocket [Video]

Vladimir Putin has admitted that sanctions on Russia and worker shortages have contributed to economic turbulence in the country.

The Russian president made the comments days after Russia’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate to a record 21 percent—higher than the emergency 20 percent level introduced in the aftermath of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine when facing Western sanctions and isolation from the global financial system.

Despite unprecedented Western sanctions on Russia, the IMF this month raised its estimate for the country’s GDP growth for 2024 from 3.2 percent to 3.6 percent, a point noted by Putin during a video conference Monday with top officials.

Russia’s economic growth has been fueled by record levels of military spending but a lack of workers exacerbated by troop losses in Ukraine and a brain drain of those avoiding the draft, have fueled inflation which the Central Bank has tried to curb. Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Central Bank for comment.