Vladimir Putin Says it's "Simply Impossible" For West To Isolate Russia From Rest Of The World

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday stated that it was “impossible” to cut Russia from the rest of the world and that Western sanctions would not reverse Moscow's decades of progress. 

Mr Putin had ordered his troops to invade Ukraine in February earlier this year. In response, several countries across the globe imposed sanctions on Russia, designed to isolate the nation from the global economy. 

On Monday, speaking at a video conference with government figures, the Kremlin leader, therefore, said, “We understand that this is a major challenge to our country, however, we are not going to lose heart or have decades of our progress reversed, despite predictions from a number of our ill-wishers, the opposite is true,” as quoted by the Tass news agency.

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Mr Putin further went on to note the “huge amount of obstacles” Russia is being put up with, and said that the nation will now be looking for “new solutions” while making effective use of its own technological capacities available in the country. 

“It is clear that this is a huge challenge for our country, but... we are not going to give up and stay in a state of disarray or, as some of our ‘well-wishers' predict, go back decades. Of course not,” he said. “And it's also clear that we cannot and will not live in isolation from the rest of the world," the Russian president pledged.

The head of state stressed that Russia cannot be isolated from the rest of the globe. While outlining top priority tasks, Mr Putin stated, “Obviously, we cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world. And we won't. It is impossible in the present-day world to merely issue as decree and erect a huge fence. It is simply impossible.”

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As Mr Putin slammed the attempts to destroy Russia's economy, he pushed for domestic manufacturing and development of end-to-end technologies within the nation and a halt to foreign exports, Tass reported. 

Separately, Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also said that support for the Russian technology sector was a priority, but he added that every rouble of state support should be accompanied by at least three roubles of private investment.