Russia’s future doesn’t depend on sanctions: Putin

St. Petersburg: Russia’s future does not depend on sanctions but is based, first and foremost, on internal development, including national projects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the full-scale meeting of the International Arctic Forum.

“The future of Russia does not depend on sanctions. The future of Russia depends on us and on how effective we will be in transforming our political system, on how more democratic it will be getting and on how it will manage to bring to the forefront all most sound forces of society and the creative energy of our citizens,” Putin said.

Also, Putin remarked that the country’s future will depend on how effectively the internal resources of the Russian economy will be used.

“I’ve already said that we’ve invested about 600 billion into import substitution last year. All this works effectively. We have wonderful science and education. We must support all this in the proper condition and move forward. I am certain that we will succeed in all respects, including the implementation of national projects,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is confident that the Western sanctions will not interfere with implementation of Russia’s plans for the development of the Arctic.

“As for sanctions pressure, does it interfere or not? Partly it does, but not in a critical way. To a certain extent, it even pushes us to actively develop our own technologies,” Putin said at the Arctic Forum.

“It would be better to not have any restrictions that distort the market, global trade, lead to a slowdown in the global economy. It would be better to live without it, but sanctions will not hinder implementation of Russia’s plans for development of mineral resources and development in general,” he added.

“State support for import substitution will continue. We will increase these efforts,” Putin added. According to him, such investments “have a positive effect.”