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Sanctions would have been slapped on Russia in any case, says Putin

Russian President stressed that after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many restrictions and the so-called CoCom lists remained in effect and were ‘inherited’ by Russia

MOSCOW, March 10./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence on Thursday that the West would have imposed sanctions against Russia in any case.

"I have no doubts whatsoever that these sanctions would still be imposed at all events, the way they have been imposed over the past many-many years," Putin said.

He stressed that after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many restrictions and the so-called CoCom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) lists remained in effect and were ‘inherited’ by Russia.

"Everybody was taking money with pleasure for the loans that all republics of the Soviet Union took during the Soviet era," he noted.

At the moment, the sanctions pressure is comprehensive and creates certain problems and difficulties for Russia. "We will overcome these problems and difficulties this time as we used to overcome them in the previous years," Putin summed up.

On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Afterward, the US, EU, UK and some other countries said they were imposing sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities.