VLADIVOSTOK, April 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the sanctions introduced by the West against Russia cannot be a reason for feeling distressed.
He said it in a documentary film ‘The President’ aired by Rossiya One channel on the occasion of the 15th anniversary since his accession to the upper echelons of state power.
The President added this country had been subjected to various sanctions previously, too.
"[The sanctions] are little more than an attempt to curb Russia’s development and we can track down the efforts towards that goal in all epochs, including the Imperial one," Putin said. "This policy of Russia’s containment has been known for centuries. There’s nothing new it and there’s no reason for us to feel distressed."
He admitted he had an impression sometimes the West loved Russia only at the moments when this country stood in need of humanitarian aid. "Then everything’s alright and they send potatoes to us."
"The so-called ruling milieus, the economic and political elites of those countries love us when we’re penniless and are begging with an outstretched hand but as soon as we begin to state our interests of any kind they start feeling an element of geopolitical completion," Putin said. "And who would like it?"
"I’m convinced at the bottom of my heart we’re not encroaching on any rules of the game," he said adding that he meant international law and the UN Charter in the first place.
"This concerns our relations with Ukraine, the situation around Crimea, our positioning in other regions of the globe, the struggle with international terrorism," Putin indicated. "Equally, this concerns our problems in the field of global security, for instance, our stance on the U.S. withdrawal from the crucial treaty on restriction on the antiballistic missile systems."
"When we get down to all of this, when we raise these issues, when we speak about the things threatening us, like NATO’s eastwards expansion and the advancing of its military infrastructure toward our borders, then the desire to counteract us emerges," he said.