Ukraine's former finance minister has told FRANCE 24 that any company doing business with Russia is indirectly financing the war in Ukraine. Natalie Jaresko was in office from 2014 to 2016, when Russia annexed Crimea and conflict was raging in the eastern Donbas region. She described the current situation facing Ukraine as an "economic strangulation of the country" and called on global firms to stop any operations in Russia.
Kyiv has so far secured more than $2 billion in emergency aid packages from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in "war bonds".
Jaresko said the country's financial needs are massive.
"First priority in this case will be financing the military, the defence of the country, to win this war, and, two, to support the people of Ukraine. As you can well imagine, almost no one is working any more. So what we would call unemployment in other systems, stipends, have to be provided for almost all the population."
As finance minister, Jaresko oversaw a major renegotiation of Ukraine's sovereign debt. She said the country's financial position is stronger now, but that the situation facing Kyiv is much worse.
"If in 2014, 20 percent of GDP was knocked out and 7 percent of our territory because of the illegal invasion of Crimea and Donbas, today the whole country is under attack."
Jaresko called on the private sector to cut ties to Russia, to support Ukraine.
“I say that asking businesses to self-sanction, to voluntarily apply their ESG principles and walk the walk of leaving, ceasing doing any business in Russia. Every part of any business we do with Russia right now is indirectly financing the war. It's paying for the bombs that are raining over the heads of the children, the civilians trying to escape, to flee. So we shouldn't be financing this war."
Also in the programme, we speak to shipping expert Michelle Wiese Bockmann of Lloyd's List about the disruption to global trade routes from the war and sanctions on Russia.
