Putin says no Iron Curtain will close off Russia's economy

Putin says no Iron Curtain will close off Russia's economy

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that no Iron Curtain would fall over the Russian economy despite the sanctions imposed by the West because Moscow would not close itself off from the world like the Soviet Union did.

Qazet.az reports that the sanctions imposed on the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine have tipped Russia, one of the world's biggest producers of natural resources, towards the biggest economic contraction since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Asked about possible deals with partners such as China and India amid the "closure" of Russia's economy, Putin, speaking ahead of next week's St Petersburg Economic Forum, said Russia's economy would remain open.

"We will not have a closed economy, we have not had one and we will not have one," Putin told young entrepreneurs in a televised meeting.

"We did not have a closed economy - or rather we did in the Soviet times when we cut ourselves off, created the so-called Iron Curtain, we created it with our own hands. We will not make the same mistake again - our economy will be open."