Inflation in the US is a consequence of mistakes by American financial authorities, which they have conceded themselves, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. He added that the EU’s problems, in this regard, are down to short-sighted energy policies in Brussels,

Either way, the situation has nothing to do with Moscow or its actions in Ukraine, Putin insisted.

Attempts to blame the turmoil in Ukraine for the skyrocketing cost of living in the West amount to dodging responsibility, Putin declared in an interview that followed his meeting with the African Union head Macky Sall in Sochi.

Pretty much all governments resorted to fiscal stimulus to support the population and enterprises affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns. Russia did so “much more carefully and precisely,” without disturbing the macroeconomic picture and fueling inflation, Putin argued. In the US, by contrast, the money supply grew by 38% – by $5.9 trillion – in less than two years, in what he termed the “unprecedented output of the printing press.”