The DPR will have its own currency, backed by metallurgy and electricity - Karaman

Moscow - Kyiv, November 18 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - 1 million pensioners live in the DPR and LPR, after the financial blockade from Kyiv they have nothing to pay. Donetsk and Lugansk are happy to switch to the ruble, but are confident that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation will not agree to this for fear of sanctions. Therefore, Donbass is thinking about introducing its own currency. It is not yet clear whether this will be the common currency of the DPR and LPR, or two different ones. The export of pipes, steel cables and electricity to Russia can provide foreign exchange, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Karaman is sure.

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After the economic and financial blockade of the DPR and LPR, introduced by the Saturday decree of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, more than 600 thousand people in the Donetsk Republic were left without pensions and benefits, and together with Lugansk, about a million citizens. He said this in an interview KP Alexander Karaman.

According to the official, their prospects are “not very bright, since our capabilities are still very modest.” “We will find and are already finding some money to pay pensions to the elderly, disabled people and salaries for social workers, doctors, teachers and so on,” says Karaman. – Last month we already paid them 2-3 thousand hryvnia. We also adopted a number of resolutions that prohibit persecuting the poor for non-payment - turning off their electricity and gas,” says the DPR Deputy Prime Minister.

However, according to him, “everyone understands perfectly well that the circulation of the hryvnia here will be limited over time, if not stop completely.” Against this background, the authorities announce the introduction of their own currency. Karaman believes that “the currencies of Donetsk and Lugansk should be different, because there are different budgets, taxes, and so on,” but how and when this will be done is still unclear.

When asked by a KP correspondent, why don’t the DPR and LPR, even temporarily, switch to Russian rubles following the example of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, especially since the economy of Donbass is now almost entirely restructured to Russia, Alexander Karaman replied that “this still needs to be agreed with Russia."

“Will your Central Bank agree to this? Most likely not,” the DPR Deputy Prime Minister told a Moscow journalist. – We must also take into account the negative political consequences. For example, Russia sends us humanitarian aid, for which we are very grateful to Russia. We might have died without this help. So, what a wave of negative reaction on this matter from the United States and the European Union, who are shouting about Russian intervention, without having any evidence. And if we also switch to the Russian ruble, you can imagine the outcry that will arise.”

Therefore, most likely, the matter will end with the introduction of their own currency, or two currencies, into the DPR and LPR. At the same time, Alexander Karaman is confident that “the Donetsk People’s Republic has every opportunity to provide its currency with commodity mass.” “We have powerful industrial enterprises that produce metallurgical products,” says the official. – There are buyers in Russia, for example, for our pipes, steel cables, and so on. Our power plants using our own anthracite produce so much electricity that we can supply it to neighboring regions of Russia.”

According to Karaman, the Russian territories bordering Donbass will “be cheaper to supply with our energy than to supply electricity there from the depths of Russia. In addition, says the Deputy Prime Minister of the DPR, “we have a powerful agricultural potential, which is far from being fully used. But there is a huge Russian market for our agricultural products nearby.”

For its part, the DPR is also switching from purchasing Ukrainian goods to purchasing Russian ones. “We are increasingly abandoning Ukrainian pharmaceuticals and purchasing Russian ones, which are both of higher quality and cheaper,” says Karaman. “Also for many other goods, so as not to worry that Kyiv could deprive us of certain supplies at any moment.” Because, he hopes, “our currency will fully justify itself.”