Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the United States wants to make Russia submissive, but won’t succeed in doing so.
“They do not want to humiliate us, they want to subdue us, solve their problems at our expense,” Putin said, according to Reuters. “No one in history ever managed to achieve this with Russia, and no one ever will.”
He said the sanctions against Russia imposed by the U.S. and the European Union run contrary to their own interests. The sanctions over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine have exacerbated Russia’s economic problems and contributed to a sharp devaluation of the Russian ruble.
Putin sought to project an optimistic image, downplaying the ruble’s nosedive and saying that a ban on Western food introduced in response to Western sanctions would boost local industries.
CONTRIBUTING: ASSOCIATED PRESS
