'Sick, Terrifying' Putin Causing Chaos And Destroying Europe: Lagarde on 'Massive Inflation' Crisis

The European Central Bank's chief blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine for the rising inflation in the continent, forcing the bank to raise interest rates.

What Happened: "That's what he [Putin] is trying to do, cause chaos and destroy as much of Europe as he can," ECB President Christine Lagarde said on RTE's Late Late Show in Ireland.

See Also: Biden Tells Putin To 'Get Out Of Ukraine' As Russian President Rules Out Using Nuclear Weapons

"This energy crisis is causing massive inflation, which we have to defeat," she said. "Anybody who is behaving in that way has to be driven by evil forces," Lagarde said of Putin, adding that the "sick" Russian leader is a "terrifying person."

Sharing instances from her previous meetings with Putin, she described the Russian leader as an "unbelievably super-briefed person" with “flashing, freezing eyes.”

The ECB last week announced another round of interest rate hikes to combat inflation, to the highest level in more than a decade. 

Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv pushed natural gas prices to historic levels back in August. However, it has significantly come down since then, but Qatar’s energy minister has warned that Europe will face tougher challenges next year as reserves are depleted. “This coming winter, because of the storage capacity being full, it’s fine,” said Saad Sherida al-Kaabi. “It’s really replenishing the reserves, or the storage, for next year that’s going to be the issue.”

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