Putin: Russia must not be enslaved by foreign digital platforms

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (PRIME) – Russia, which is perfectly able to create its own digital platforms, must not be enslaved by foreign floors, President Vladimir Putin told heads of local mass media late on Thursday.

“These platforms are created in the U.S., Europe creates unified European platforms. We’re working on formation of a single platform in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Putin said. The union comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

“It must be done and done on a fair basis, sharing risks and directions of activities between all the participants so that we would not become slaves to the existing platforms, but have those of our own. We can do that.”

Sberbank, the country’s biggest bank, has advanced much in this direction, the president said, adding that his administration and at the government also work on the problem.

Putin also said that the government will be in charge of the situation with cryptocurrencies in case of legal regulation of the matter, while all risks are currently borne by people.

“If we regulate…the government will carry all the responsibility for the difficult situation people could get into. Now it’s mainly the responsibility of people themselves,” the president said.

The Finance Ministry plans to submit to the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, a bill to regulate digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, in February.

Putin said that the government could now only stipulate what is permitted and what is not in cryptocurrencies, and problems will emerge in case of any inaccuracy.

There should be no haste in speaking about the necessity or opportunity of adopting a law on digital technologies since experts must elaborate the issue in detail, but “any overregulation limits freedom of business, restrains it, sometimes fairly, although restrictions must be lifted duly,” as Putin said.

The government should not let the situation with cryptocurrencies repeat the case of hoodwinked investors.

“The central bank is approaching the matter very cautiously, because fluctuations are colossal, as they jump up and down. Today, you’ve become rich and pumped everything there, but tomorrow, you’ll lose everything,” the president said.

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