The Austrian diplomat and journalist made her remarks in light of claims by senior officials about the collapse of the Russian economy, which she said was a completely inaccurate allegation.

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In that vein, Kneissl said any claim that the sanctions are hurting the Russian economy is completely misjudged. Kneissl said that in addition to oil and gas, Russia supplies the global market with uranium, important metals and other materials that are equally vital to the global economy.

The former minister said that “one thing is certain, we are only in the midst of a global economic situation where we see interdependence”, adding that “oil is a globally traded commodity, and if it doesn’t flow west, it can easily flow south, north, east, and it’s already happening.

As for the growing reliance of the Russian ruble on commodities, Kneissl said it was “an interesting development in this monetary world because it has grown stronger as oil, gas and other important raw materials that you cannot easily replace are the backbone”.

“We have seen an energy crisis and runaway inflation from 2021 at the latest. Now a lot of blame is put on the war [in Ukraine], on Russia… That’s not true… but unfortunately, that’s what the European central banks are hearing from you. The whole composition of the crisis was there long before,” Kneissl said, commenting on the global economic crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on economic issues on Thursday that in the current difficult global situation, with rising inflation and food shortages, Russia has been able to face external challenges with confidence thanks to its responsible macroeconomic policy in recent years, in addition to systemic solutions to strengthen economic sovereignty, as well as technological and food security.