Western economic restrictions have deprived the Russian economy of $50 billion, but the European Union has been hit harder, losing $240 billion since 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, RT reported.
Other countries also felt the impact of anti-Russian sanctions, Putin said as he answered citizens’ questions during the annual Direct Line Q&A session in Moscow on Thursday. The United States, which does not have the biggest trade turnover with Russia, has lost $17 billion due to sanctions, while Japan lost $27 billion, RT adds.
The Russian President added that the West is unlikely to significantly change its attitude toward Russia anytime soon, so Russia must strengthen its economy to secure its “place under the sun.”
Russia has managed to benefit from Western economic pressure, according to Putin, as the country started phasing out imports and replacing them with domestically made products, even in sectors in which it did not have any experience.
Prior to the sanctions, Russia had never produced marine engines, but developed them out of necessity, with some even surpassing foreign analogues. The same applies to transport and power industry engineering, Putin pointed out.
