Putin: Attempts to strangle Russian economy fail

MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG, Apr 27 (PRIME) -- The plans to strangle the Russian economy have failed, President Vladimir Putin told the Council of Legislators of the Federal Assembly on Wednesday.

“(The West) has started large-scale preparation of the economic war against Russia. They used different pretexts to introduce new sanction restrictions step by step, and they sometimes even did that using no guises at all. By the way, the current plans of economic strangulation also failed,” he said.

The West wants to transfer the problems of the past to the current life.

It had failed to corner Russia before, this is why it started the economic war. Nevertheless, Russia managed to fend off the blow of illegitimate sanctions, and the country’s banking, transport, and trade systems are on their feet and did not crumble, he said.

In response to the restrictions and attempts at isolation, Russia will become more open for business and will remain reliable for businessmen and responsible investors. The government will continue providing support to the key economic sectors and to small and medium-sized companies.

The government and parliament have to continue working on the anti-crisis measures, strengthen oversight over implementation of the decisions, and ensure rhythmic work of the internal market, he said.

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