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Anti-Russian sanctions illegal, temporary, not critical for Russia - Putin

"If somebody prefers to work by means of sanctions, he is welcome to do so. But sanctions are a temporary measure," Putin told US journalist Charlie Rose

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he does not doubt Russia will overcome negative consequences of Russian sanctions though there are not critical.

"If somebody prefers to work by means of sanctions, he is welcome to do so. But sanctions are a temporary measure," Putin told US journalist Charlie Rose in an interview with CBS and PBS.

Anti-Russian sanctions "contradict the international law", the president stressed. "The sanctions, as I said, are illegal actions, destroying the principles of the international global economy, the principles of the WTO [World Trade Organization] and the UN. The sanctions may be imposed only by the decision of the UN Security Council. A unilateral imposition of sanctions is a violation of international law," he noted.

"Secondly, tell me where this policy of sanctions proved to be effective. The answer is nowhere; and sanctions against such country as Russia are unlikely to be effective," Putin said.

"Of course, they [sanctions] do damage, but they are not the main reason for the slowdown in the growth rates of the Russian economy or other problems related to inflation," the Russian leader noted. "For us, the main reason is, of course, the decrease in prices in the world markets of our traditional export goods, first, of oil and, consequently, of gas, and some other products. This is the core factor. Sanctions, of course, have a certain impact, but they are not of crucial and fundamental importance to our economy," he continued.

Answering a question on whether Russia will survive sanctions, Putin said: "Naturally, beyond any doubts, it is even out of discussion."

The president added that sanctions even have a certain advantage. "The advantage is that previously we used to buy many goods, especially in the area of high technology, with petrodollars. Today, amid the sanctions, we cannot buy or we are afraid that we will be denied access to hi-tech goods, and we had to deploy large-scale programs to develop our own high-tech economy, industry, manufacturing and science," he explained.

"In fact, we would have to do this anyway, but we found it difficult as our own domestic markets were filled with foreign products, and we found it very difficult to support our local manufacturers within the WTO regulations. Now, with the sanctions imposed and our partners having left our market voluntarily, we have an opportunity to develop," the Russian president concluded.