Putin says he's raising the minimum wage and pensions in Russia by 10% to counter inflation

The minimum wage and pensions in Russia will be hiked by 10% by President Putin in order to counter soaring inflation.

In a speech on Wednesday, Putin rejected the idea that the war was linked to the country's economic issues.

Inflation is comparable in countries that aren't conducting any operations and in Europe, even more so.

Russia's inflation was 17.8% in April. The US inflation rate hit a four-decade high in April, but is still lower than Russia.

June 1 is when the minimum wage and pension hikes will start. The minimum wage is more than twenty dollars a month, and the average retirement pension is more than thirty dollars a month.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been hit with a lot of sanctions. Russia's GDP is expected to collapse by 30% by the end of 2022, according to trade experts from the Institute of International Finance.

The Financial Times reported that Putin said the Russian economy had better dynamics than predicted. The unemployment rate has not changed since the beginning of the year, he said, per the media outlet. There is no data for more recent months.

According to the FT, Putin said he didn't expect inflation to go above 15%. The Russian central bank predicted an inflation rate of up to 23%.

The ruble collapsed after the invasion. The country's prices are still elevated even though the currency has recovered.