Besides the army and navy, fiscal stability is key to the countrys economic growth and peoples well-being, Anton Siluanov has said

Fiscal stability is a key "ally" of Russia, alongside the country's army and navy, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a forum in Moscow on Thursday.

The remark was a nod to the saying "Russia has only two allies: its army and its navy," most famously attributed to Tsar Alexander III, which reflects the country's geopolitical perspective emphasizing self-reliance and military strength over foreign alliances.

Financial stability hinges on reducing the government's exposure to oil price swings, Siluanov explained. To this end, the minister announced a measure to shield the federal budget from Western sanctions targeting Russian energy exports which have been imposed over the Ukraine conflict.

The plan is to gradually lower the per-barrel cost of oil at which the Russian federal budget is not operating at a deficit, which is known as the cut-off price.

"If you recall, it is $60 per barrel today, and by 2030 we plan to reduce it to $55. Each year the budget's dependence on oil and gas will fall by one dollar," Siluanov explained, adding that that would bring the share of respective revenues in the budget down to 22%.

Siluanov also described the budget policy as an effort to make the state's finances "more muscular," and capable of withstanding external pressures. The goal is to ensure that sanctions, trade wars and swings in global commodity prices are absorbed by the system and go "absolutely unnoticed" by ordinary Russians, he said.

The comments comes as the EU is discussing its 19th sanctions package, which would reportedly target Russia's oil export infrastructure, including ports and terminals, as well as companies linked to transporting and insuring shipments.

The previous package, adopted in July, lowered the price cap on Russian crude to about $47.60 per barrel and introduced a ban on petroleum products refined from the oil in third countries and re-exported under different labels.

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The US has been pressuring the EU to cut Russian oil imports, which it claims could bring an end to the Ukraine conflict. Brussels has pledged to phase out fossil fuel imports from the country by 2027, but Hungary and Slovakia, which remain heavily dependent on pipeline supplies, have resisted tougher curbs, exposing divisions within the bloc.

(RT.com)