MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Western sanctions against Russia, as well as against Belarus, will be introduced in any case, a reason for this will be found, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference following talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"Sanctions will be imposed in any case. Whether they have a reason today, for example, in connection with the events in Ukraine, or there is no such reason - it will be found, because the goal is different, in this case the goal is to slow down the development of Russia and Belarus," the Russian leader said.

"With this aim, there will always be a reason to introduce certain illegitimate restrictions, and this is nothing more than unfair competition," the Russian leader added.

He stressed that sanctions pressure "is absolutely illegitimate."

"This is a gross violation of international law, but those who are now talking about it (about possible new sanctions - TASS) they care about it (the international law -TASS) only when it is advantageous to them. When it is not advantageous to them, they are happy to forget about all the norms of international public right," Putin said.

He noted with regret that Moscow and Minsk have been living "in such a paradigm for many, many years, because those in power, [who] consider themselves the masters of today's life, they always interpret everything only in their own favor and neglect the interests of other [countries]."

"There is only one way to overcome this state of affairs - to strengthen ourselves from within, and above all, of course, in the economy," the head of state stated.

Economic cooperation and import substitution

When asked who can help Russia and Belarus counter the sanctions, the Russian leader noted that Moscow and Minsk "should help themselves in this sense."

"This is exactly what our today's meeting [with Lukashenko] is aimed at," Putin said, adding that it was about economic cooperation.

Putin did not elaborate on how the two states will counter the sanctions, but said that "there is always a solution."

The Russian leader also agreed with the statement of his Belarusian counterpart that the world is one cannot lock down everything.

"I am joining this assessment," Putin said.

He recalled over the last eight years Russia has done a lot in terms of import substitution. "We did not do everything that we planned, but in general it can be said that more than 90% of the tasks that we set for ourselves have been solved," the Russian leader said.

However he noted that "much remains to be done" in this area in order to increase the level of economic sovereignty.

Many countries unhappy with sanctions

The Russian leader noted that today many countries face the consequences of sanctions, "even allies of the United States."

"They simply keep their mouths shut, keep silent, tolerate it. But <…> nobody likes it: they don’t like secondary sanctions, and they don’t like direct sanctions pressure either," Putin said.

"Sooner or later, this abscess, of course, will break through. But today it is important for us to raise the level of our economic sovereignty and be more capable, modern, and give new impetus to the development of modern areas of the economy," Putin stressed.