SOCHI, October 5. /TASS/. Bloc-type structures created by the West are an attempt to drive other countries into a cage of obligations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai discussion club.

"The bloc approach is a restriction of the rights and freedoms of states to their own development. It is an attempt to drive them into a certain cage of obligations," Putin said. "To a certain extent it is tantamount to taking away part of sovereignty" and then imposing decisions in other spheres, alongside those in the sphere of security, first of all, in the economy, which is now happening between the US and Europe.

Currently, anyone who behaves independently and pursues one’s own interests, Putin said, instantly becomes an obstacle in the eyes of the Western elites, an obstacle they are determined to eliminate. He pointed out that artificial geopolitical schemes were being imposed on the world and closed bloc-type groups established everywhere.

"We see this in Europe, where an aggressive policy of NATO’s expansion has been pursued for decades, in the Asia-Pacific Region and in South Asia, where they are trying to upset the open and inclusive mode of cooperation," Putin added.