SOCHI, December 6. /TASS/. Russia won’t use any levers of economic pressure regardless of political climate, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized on Friday.
"If you have paid attention, no matter what political climate may be, we always keep smooth and stable relations with our economic partners and we never use any economic levers for solving any political issues. I want to assure you that this will be so in the future," the Russian leader told a meeting with German businesses.
Putin thanked the meeting’s participants for working on the Russian market and showing interest in continuing this activity. "I would like to note that our joint effort has a positive effect on the social sector, this includes keeping and increasing jobs, developing this production, and this is stability on different markets in Europe and in the world in general," the president said.
Opening the meeting, Putin emphasized that contacts in this format have become a tradition and this is the fourth Russian leader’s meeting with CEOs of major German companies. Putin suggested exchanging views on promising projects in different areas.
According to Putin, today German investment in Russia’s economy has exceeded $20 bln, while Russian investment has reached nearly $10 bln.
Some 5,000 companies with German capital currently operate in Russia with a total turnover of nearly $50 bln. Germany is Russia’s second largest trade partner after China. "Most recently, Germany was ranked number one and I hope we will again see this," the Russian leader said.