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'How about now?' Putin retorts to business’ past belief that holding assets abroad safer

"Only in the context of this understanding can doing business bring a person satisfaction and help individuals to fully tap their potential and achieve self-actualization," the president said

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing an audience of Russia’s business elite, offered a caustic retort to the executives’ previous conviction that it was far safer to hold their assets outside of Russia.

"I used to often hear: ‘Well, it's far safer over there’ (abroad - TASS). How about now?" Putin said to the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Moscow on Thursday.

"The very foundation of our existence and the future of our families and children is here (in Russia - TASS)," Putin said. "Only in the context of this understanding can doing business bring a person satisfaction and help individuals to fully tap their potential and achieve self-actualization," the president said. "I am convinced that the more our businesspeople share these values, the stronger Russia will be, the stronger our economy will become, the faster life will change for the better, and the more prestige and public respect entrepreneurs and businesspeople will enjoy."