ST. PETERSBURG, June 17. /TASS/. The economic blitzkrieg against Russia was unlikely to be a success, as the weapon of sanctions is a double-edged sword, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.
"I have already said that the economic blitzkrieg against Russia initially had no chance for success, but the weapon of sanctions, as you know, and the practice of recent years has proved it well, is double-edged," the president said.
"It inflicts comparable, if not bigger, damage on its ideologists and architects. And it is not just about the current obvious reverberations," he added.
The Russian president pointed out that European politicians had dealt their economies a severe blow with their own hands.
"We are aware that European leaders in their off-record conversations, as they say, in private bring up rather alarming prospects that sanctions may be imposed not only against Russia, but against any undesirable country, and may sooner or later affect everyone, including members of the European Union as well as European companies," he said.
"It has not come to this so far, but European politicians have landed a heavy blow on their economies. They did it themselves, with their own hands," Putin concluded.