HARBIN, May 17. /TASS/. Western sanctions on the supply of Russian goods are stupid, go against free market principles and will not succeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters.

"These are non-market, absolutely stupid decisions that have no prospects," he said, answering a corresponding question.

According to the President of Russia, as soon as some country becomes "the center of world development, <…>, becomes more competitive, they immediately try to bring it down."

"Can Russian-Chinese cooperation resist this? It can. But in order to prevent it, they interfere with the financial transactions. We could purchase more, but since they create problems in money transfers, we are limited in purchasing these products. Can we do something about this? It is also possible. We can develop joint production," he said but noted that the development of joint production will take time.

Putin noted that the negative impact of sanctions on the economies of European countries is already noticeable. According to him, "the German economy in Europe is almost in the red, while the French economy is on the brink of recession."

"And if the German economy gets really sick and does not feel well, the entire European economy will catch the bug, to put it mildly. This is what such decisions lead to," the Russian President said.