Kyiv Post Reports:
“Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State under former President Donald Trump, said Monday (19 Feb) that Ukraine can be optimistic about US assistance, despite the $60 billion in US military aid for Ukraine currently being stalled in Congress...
...Pompeo said that were former President Donald Trump reelected this year, it would not necessarily mean the diminishment of US support for Ukraine.
“Don’t let the media deceive you. Let the reality set in. Let the reality of the Trump administration and its policy towards Ukraine suggest to you what the second Trump administration looks like,” Pompeo said.
“Which administration was the first administration to provide defensive weapons systems to this country? It was not the Obama administration. Indeed, it was the Obama administration that was unable to deter Vladimir Putin from taking a fifth of your country. It was the Trump administration that for four years deterred Vladimir Putin,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said that in the conversation about Russia’s war against Ukraine, politicians rarely talk about victory.
“We collectively must win. We have to win. We have to win in a way that decisively proves that our model, the model of the West, the model of the people of Ukraine, the model of the people of Europe, the model of the people of America, and those who believe in human dignity and property rights, and all of the things that have made America so successful for 250 years, we have to demonstrate that that’s the victorious model,” he said.
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The Central Bank gave a forecast for the dollar “at 110-150 rubles” and remembered the SVO
A number of events occurring now could negatively impact our currency. As a result, the dollar exchange rate may rise to 110-120, and in the worst scenarios - up to 150 rubles.
This is stated in a closed forecast that Central Bank specialists conveyed to Vladimir Putin.
According to a source in the Central Bank, among the main risks, Elvira Nabiullina’s subordinates name the death of Alexei Navalny, in connection with which new serious sanctions could be introduced against Russia. Another factor that could “drop” the course is “the North Military District, the development of which is still difficult to predict, despite all the recent successes of our army.”
Let us note that the Central Bank is no longer asking the President to stop hostilities, as they did before. But they admit that “they would be happy if the SVO ended in the near future.”
Our source claims: if current trends continue, by mid-April the ruble exchange rate will “most likely” drop to 110-120 per dollar. Prices, in this case, will increase “by 10-15 percent, maximum 20.” A scenario with a dollar at 150 rubles exists, but is unlikely.
At the same time, according to sources in the Kremlin, Putin expects the ruble exchange rate to rise significantly before the Presidential elections. We wrote that if this does not happen, the President may fire Nabiullina.
Now “there is such a readiness for personnel changes, but Vladimir Vladimirovich believes in the best,” says one of our interlocutors.