SOCHI, September 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The West’s financial sanctions are “senseless and ugly” but Russia will survive, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.
“This is basically a subjective decision of our European partners and I think it is senseless and ugly with regard to Russia,” Medvedev told Rossiya 24 television. “But we will survive”.
“We had this [situation] in 2008-2009 when we had to provide funding to our companies using our own resources,” he said, adding that the Central Bank could handle this problem.
He admitted, however, that “the situation on the financial market is unfavourable for our banks as practically all possibilities for obtaining foreign cash, that is, foreign funding, have been blocked”.
Russia will have a new modernised economy in ten years
Dmitry Medvedev added that Russia would have a new modernised economy in ten years. “We will get a new economy, not in a year or two, but I am absolutely convinced that we will have a completely modernised economy in ten years, even despite today’s restrictions,” he told Rossiya 24 television.
Russia has targets and goals which remain in effect. “We are not changing anything and we are not curtailing state programmes,” Medvedev said, adding, however, that necessary amendments and adjustments were made along the way.
“Since we are moving this way, we are going to finance major projects,” he said.
Speaking about the economic situation in Russia in general, the prime minister said “it’s not about sanctions”. “We are affected by the sanctions probably by 5% or so,” he said, adding that all the other problems stemmed from internal infrastructure limitations.