MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has excoriated the ongoing US-led Western crusade to ‘cancel’ Russia as "sanctions aggression". That being said, he highlighted the fact that Russian business has been acting very honorably under the current conditions.

"Russian business has acted very respectably," Putin said, speaking on Monday at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Prosecutor General's Office. "Even though not all small and medium-sized companies had fully gotten over the consequences of the pandemic yet, they immediately came up against barriers associated with the sanctions aggression against Russia. In fact, there is no other name for it but sanctions aggression," Putin emphasized.

The head of state believes that "in the current situation, it is necessary to support Russian business as much as possible, to use all opportunities for this, including easing the administrative burden."

"Certainly, there are areas which need to be examined, and of course these are first of all those that concern people’s lives and health. And in all other cases, as we have already agreed on, the moratorium has been in effect," he added.

"It is necessary to let both domestic entrepreneurs and those foreign companies that, despite everything, continue to fulfill their obligations in good faith and work in peace. We need to protect business from unreasonable and unnecessary, excessive control. You have all the necessary tools for this," the head of state said addressing the meeting’s participants.

Putin also called on prosecutors to defend the rights of Russian businessmen.

"I urge you to respect all the rights of entrepreneurs and to create favorable conditions for them to work," he said.

"However, if someone abuses their monopoly position, enters into backroom cartel arrangements, then both the antimonopoly authorities and the prosecutor's office must respond promptly and efficiently to this," Putin noted.