Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the international community to normalize relations with his country, while claiming it could benefit from sanctions.
“We have no bad intentions, there is no need to escalate the situation, impose restrictions, we fulfil all obligations,” Putin said during a flag raising ceremony of a new Russian ferry, a joint venture between Russia and Turkey.
“If someone does not want to cooperate with us within the framework of single cooperation, and by doing so harms themselves, they will, of course, harm us too," Putin added.
Putin went on to say the Russian economy would have adapt to the current situation.
“We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies. But we will still solve the problems that we face” he said. “In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies.”
Countries across the world have leveled sanctions against Russia in an effort to squeeze Putin as the invasion of Ukraine advances.
President Joe Biden imposed new sanctions Thursday on eight members of the Russian elite, along with members of their families, as he warned Russia is intensifying its bloody invasion of Ukraine with indiscriminate bombing.
The White House, as well as the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, announced last weekend they would expel certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world.
In a major break from its longstanding neutrality, Switzerland also announced it would join the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia.
CNN
