Sanctions, economic pressure are increasingly used for political pressure – Putin

MOSCOW. Dec 7 (Interfax) – Russia should take into account the increase in the use of methods of economic and sanction pressure when working on its long-term economic strategy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

“Economic restrictions, pressure, and sanctions are being increasingly used for political purposes, under the guise of political purposes, often in competition. We should take these tendencies into account and preventively react to these risks and threats,” Putin said at a meeting in the Russian Security Council on the draft economic security strategy for the period through 2030.

“Our main, fundamental response consists in increasing our own economic potential while increasing our effectiveness, not closing ourselves off from the global economy,” the president said.

“That will give us resources for development, for resolving social problems,” Putin said.

There are currently “deep large-scale processes in the world, new centers of global economic growth are being formed, competition for markets, technologies and capital is increasing every year,” Putin said.

In this regard, he pointed out the importance of adopting a long-term economic security strategy, saying that this document “outlines the most important areas of our work to ensure the country’s sovereignty in the economic, technological and financial spheres.”

“Just a short while ago, it seemed that these documents would not be needed, but, judging by what is happening, we also need to think about the threats which we will talk about,” the president said.