President Vladimir Putin boasted yesterday that Russia had found the "inner strength" to prevent sanctions causing a deep economic crisis, and told the West to stop using "the language of ultimatums".
Investment in Russia has slowed to a trickle, capital flight has risen and the economy has been sliding into recession since oil prices tumbled last year and the West imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.
But in a speech to a business forum and a question-and-answer session, Putin ignored calls by many investors to unveil new plans to end the downturn. Instead, he warned the West not to meddle in Moscow’s affairs and shifted blame for the conflict in Ukraine on to the West, primarily the United States.
“I would like to point out that at the end of last year we were warned – and you know this well – that there would be a deep crisis,” Mr Putin said in the speech in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg.
Stabilised the situation
“It has not happened. We have stabilised the situation . . . mainly because the Russian economy piled up a sufficient supply of inner strength,” he said. Despite the fact the Russian central bank expects the economy to contract by 3.2 per cent in 2015, Mr Putin said: “With us are businessmen, people and new leaders prepared to work for Russia and its development. For this reason we are absolutely certain of success.”
Shun
The chief executives of many Western companies which would usually have attended Russia’s annual showpiece economic forum stayed away for the second successive year, though the heads of some major oil companies were present. The US government urged US firms to shun last year’s forum, soon after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, but refrained from doing so this year.
Mr Putin has turned to Asia to drum up business since the Western sanctions started biting, and he shared the platform with representatives of several Asian countries.
Another guest was Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, whose country is also building ties with Russia. – (Reuters)