MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored on Friday the importance of having an independent national economy as Russia’s past showed external economic factors could and would be used against it for political reasons.
"We used to consider many [economic] factors to be inviolable and outside of possible political rows, but this wasn’t the case. We got swindled. When a need came to put pressure on us they were immediately used as economic leverage. We must keep this in mind, especially in the defense sphere," Putin said at the annual press conference.
Russia's economy managed to adapt to the severe external conditions and problems of the world economy, showing better results than it was predicted, Putin added.
"The world economy situation is worsening, but our result is better. It means that the economy has adjusted and it will develop on this basis … considering the fact that the reality turned out to be more complicated than we expected … Nevertheless, GDP tendencies and inflation changed, the monetary reserves were saved," Putin said during the annual press conference.
The importance of having an independent national economy was also highlighted by the president, as Russia’s past showed external economic factors could and would be used against it for political reasons, Putin added.
Russia has been hit by a downturn that began in early 2015 after falling oil prices and Western anti-Russia sanctions took bite. The country's GDP fell 3.7 percent in 2015, according to the Russian Federal Statistics Service Rosstat.
In September, the Economic Development Ministry revised its 2016 growth forecast downward from —0.2 percent to —0.6 percent.
