ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
The Western sanctions against Russian banks are harming Ukraine's economy, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with German TV channel ARD which was aired on Saturday (November 15).
Speaking in Russia's Vladivostok ahead of G20 summit in Australian Brisbane, Putin said Russian banks have extended $25 billion in loans to Ukraine.
"If our European and American partners want to help Ukraine, how can they undermine the financial base limiting our financial institutions' access to world capital markets? Do they want to bankrupt our banks? In that case they will bankrupt Ukraine. Are they at all thinking what they are doing? Or politics has blurred their vision? It is known that the eyes are a part of the brain moved to the periphery. Has something switched of in their brains? " Putin said.
German TV channel ARD will broadcast the full interview on Sunday (November 16).
Despite the sanctions, which he said were causing
