‘Russia economy can weather storms’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed that the country’s economy will be able to pass through the difficult times it is experiencing due to the Western sanctions imposed against Moscow.

“Our economy will adapt to these conditions in any case, but it will need some time,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers in the capital Moscow on Monday.

He added that the Russian economy would find a way to cope with low energy prices, adding, “We will have to live through uneasy times.”

“The petrodollar, the oil and gas market will be inevitably adjusted too, because the global economy will grow in any case. Sooner or later, the situation will develop in a way it should — energy sources will become scarce again,” Putin said.

The Russian leader further called on the lawmakers to refrain from decisions and measures that might weaken the basis of the national economy.

Russia has been hit with a series of sanctions by the US and the European Union, which have been accusing Moscow of playing a role in the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, a claim Russia has repeatedly rejected.

Russia has been witnessing a decline in the value of its currency, ruble, which is going through its worst crisis since 1998 due to Western bans, dropping oil prices and trader fears.