MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Russian manufacturers are occupying new niches, including those left open by Western businesses, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.

"Our manufacturers are occupying new market niches, including those that Western companies have vacated for us, while in their turn large-scale state investments in infrastructure, capital facilities, and so on, stimulate the investment activity of private business," the head of state said. He did not elaborate.

Putin added that the Russian authorities "will continue working in this direction."

"The state of public finances allows us to do that," Putin explained, stressing that the current budgetary situation in Russia is generally stable.