MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia needed to act quickly to counter what he called the West’s “economic aggression”, adding Moscow would expand ties with countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America.
Russia’s economy has faced multiple challenges this year, including a weaker rouble, lower energy revenues and further isolation as Western countries continue to impose sanctions over its actions in Ukraine.
“Today, in the face of the West’s economic aggression, the parliament, the government, all regional and local authorities need to act clearly and quickly work as one cohesive team,” Putin told a meeting of Russian lawmakers.
“We are not going to leave Russia to isolate itself. On the contrary, we are going to expand pragmatic, equal, mutually beneficial, exclusively cooperative relations with friendly countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America,” he said.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday that Moscow’s forecast of a 2023 budget deficit not exceeding 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) still stood, but achieving this would depend on oil and gas revenues, Russian news agencies reported.
(Reporting by Reuters, editing by David Ljunggren and Hugh Lawson)
