Putin: Russia and Belarus are successfully coping with Western sanctions
Russia and Belarus increased their trade turnover to a record level under Western sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this today at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Russian economy is withstanding the sanctions blow very well. All major macroeconomic indicators speak about this. Yes, of course, everything is not easy and requires special attention from the government’s economic bloc. But overall, their efforts have a positive effect. This is also reflected in the level of trade turnover between our countries. Last year, a record high of nearly $38,5 billion was reached.
By the way, the transition of trade to national currencies is making itself felt. You also spoke about this many times in the past, that this needs to be done. The situation objectively turned out to be such that we did it. “Not to the detriment of our partners, while fulfilling all our obligations, we are switching to the national currency, rubles, for some product groups, and this contributes to the strengthening of the ruble,” Putin said.
He noted that for Russia and Belarus there is nothing new in trading in national currencies.
“The key issue is not energy, but industrial cooperation. You have repeatedly raised the question of how we should take additional steps forward here...
We have a lot of areas of joint work, there is a lot to talk about. I'm not even talking about further processes related to the construction of the Union State. Here, as agreed, we do everything calmly, without any haste. We check every step so that each step strengthens us from the inside, from the outside, and strengthens our political systems. I would create conditions for their development, a fundamental base,” Putin said.
Putin: Russia and Belarus are successfully coping with Western sanctions