YEKATERINBURG, July 9./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed appeals to abandon technological progress for the sake of prioritizing green politics.

"A profound and meaningful discussion" is needed to hash over the problems of combining long-term development and environmental welfare, and a high standard of living, the president told the Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit (GMIS) on Tuesday.

"However, instead of a substantive discussion regarding the global, climatic and environmental agenda, we often see, unfortunately, downright populism, speculation, and sometimes, I am not afraid to say this - simply narrow-mindedness," Putin stressed.

"It comes to the point when the world is urged to ditch progress, which will make it possible to freeze the situation at the best, and create prosperity for the select few. In contrast, hundreds of millions of people throughout the globe will have to accept that at the moment they have, or it would be more honest to say, don’t have access to clean water, food, education and other benefits of civilization," he said.

"This archaism is a blind alley, it is a road to new conflicts," the Russian leader pointed out. According to him, "the migration crisis in Europe and in the US stems from this". A blind faith in simple, impressive but inefficient solutions leads to problems," Putin cautioned, mentioning appeals to abandon nuclear and hydrocarbon energy, while betting on current alternative sources of energy.

"Will people feel comfortable living on the planet dotted with wind-driven generators and covered with layers of solar batteries?" he asked, then noting that as the saying goes "instead of tidying up the house we’ll just sweep the garbage under the rug". He also mentioned problems with wind-powered generators that lead to the deaths of birds, and other side effects that this source creates.

"Of course, we can't stop those who want to wear animal skins or move into caves, but it is impossible and absolutely absurd to stop human progress," the Russian president stressed.