Is it true that the West spent more than $ 150 billion to the aid of Ukraine, while allocating the poorest countries about $ 60 billion?

In his February message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin shared the comparative statistics of financial assistance to some states by the Western powers. We checked whether these figures correspond to reality.

February 21, 2023 Russian President Vladimir Putin Turned to the Federal Assembly with an annual message that Transferred Since last year, due to the "high dynamics of events." Speech, extended 1 hour 45 minutes (The second indicator In the history of these performances), caused a wide public outcry.

In one of the episodes of his speech, Putin declared: “We protect the life of people, our own home. And the goal of the West is endless power. He has already spent more than $ 150 billion on aiding and weapons of the Kyiv regime. For comparison: according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the poorest states of the country in the country of the country "Seeds" allocated about $ 60 billion in 2020–2021. I see, right? For war - 150, and the poorest countries, which are supposedly constantly care about, are 60, and even for the well -known requirements of humility from the countries - recipients of this money. "

This information was transmitted by leading Russian information publications, in particular TASS, "Independent newspaper","RIA Novosti" RBC, Lenta.ru, "Russian newspaper" Sputnik "Parliamentary newspaper" And "Tsargrad". At the same time, statistics questioned the publication "Agency", Which spent its own fact. The refutation was distributed by some others Media.

Immediately, we note that already in the very idea of ​​such a comparison there is some incorrectness. "Big seed"(G7) is an informal international club consisting of seven economically most developed states: Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan. In the Western countries in the broad sense usually They understand the totality of the United States, European, Australia and the remaining members of the "Big Seven", in the narrow - USA, Canada and Europe. Also in this context we can talk about countries from the list of unfriendly states, which officially Approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. In any of the interpretations, two many countries coincide only partially, and therefore, comparing their actions is not entirely correct. Another question is caused by temporary ranges. Two years of assistance to the poorest countries have been compared either with the year that has passed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine (from February 24, 2022), or with the nine years that passed after the victory Euromaidan.

Soon after the beginning of the full -scale invasion of Russia of the Western countries, they began to provide a material help A very different nature. It can be divided into three types: military, financial and humanitarian. Most often, on the issue of taking into account this information, authoritative world publications refer to the Kili Institute of the World Economy (IFW), which conducts a separate Statistics For all types. According to his data, from January 24, 2022 to January 15, 2023, the support of Ukraine by the West (including Australia and Japan) in monetary equivalent amounted to € 138 billion (~ $ 146 billion), of which $ 68 billion had to be financial assistance, $ 65 billion for military, and $ 13 billion for humanitarian. A huge proportion of this volume falls on the United States.

However, it is important to take into account one detail: this statistics of the Kil Institute of World Economy also take into account financial obligations, and not just the actual funds. According to the publication The Financial Times With reference to the same IFW, in the transfer of financial assistance to Ukraine there is a significant delay, including with legal wires. In particular, Ukraine has currently underwent about $ 18.5 billion from European structures, and the total debt is about $ 35 billion.

Thus, in its own way they are right and "Agency", Who considers only military and financial assistance to Ukraine, which actually reached the addressee, and the speakers of the Russian president, apparently taking into account humanitarian assistance and have not yet fulfilled obligations. At the same time, even without taking into account $ 13 billion of humanitarian aid, the European Union and European banks for the period from 2014 to 2021 Haid Ukraine of grants and loans for at least a dozen billion euros, and coupled with $ 2.8 billion from the United States in sphere Military security for 2014–2020, this amount covers the gap formed during the intersection.

To assess the volume of financial assistance to the poorest countries of the world by the countries of the “big seven”, we turn to the very source that the Russian president refers to the organization of economic cooperation and development (OECD). This structure really has an annual expenditure graph called "Official assistance to development"(OPR). The latter consists in providing relatively rich countries - members of the OECD of material resources to the group of poor countries, or, as indicated On the site, "the least developed countries and unstable states." Most of this help They make up Grants, smaller - preferential loans.

If we look at data In 2021, we will see that the G7 countries were allocated in the framework of CRA with a total of $ 142 billion, that, as the agency’s fact, is rightly higher than the figures voiced by Putin. However, we pay attention to the fact that list All recipients of OPR includes 142 countries and territories (most of the planet states), including Ukraine. But inside it there is a separate group called "least developed countries" of 45 states, mostly African. Official reports for 2020 And 2021 Years do not contain separate statistics on the help of these countries by the G7 states. Relevant information can be obtained through a request in open database OECR. As a result, it turns out that over two years the least developed countries received about $ 56 billion from the Greater Seven states, including a small percent In the category "Other official flows", not part of the CR.

Thus, if Vladimir Putin, under the poorest states of the world, had in mind the least developed countries (in the terminology of the OECD and UN), then the amount of help called by him is close to the truth. Recall that regarding the first digit, as we found out, there is also a relatively correct interpretation, if at all, such unbalanced comparisons can be considered correct.

Photo on the cover: World Bank Photo Collection / Flickr

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