Source: Ukraine NOW [English]
📌 Putin admitted that Western sanctions had negatively affected the Russian economy — in a speech on June 17 during an economic forum in St. Petersburg
"Sanction restrictions have set the country multiple difficult tasks. Many technological solutions have become inaccessible to enterprises, there are problems with components, and logistics have been disrupted. But this opens up new opportunities," the dictator said.
Putin also added that only those countries that have "strong leaders" capable of "ignoring Western threats" dare to cooperate with Russia.