Reuters/AFP/Moscow

President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for worsening relations with Russia since the Ukraine crisis and said that Moscow would not allow itself to become internationally isolated behind another “Iron Curtain”.
In an interview published by state news agency Tass yesterday, Putin also said Western sanctions against Moscow, combined with the slide in the rouble and oil price falls would have no “catastrophic consequences” on Russia’s economy.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and ratcheted them up over Moscow’s backing for separatists fighting Kiev troops to split east Ukraine.
“We understand the fatality of an ‘Iron Curtain’ for us,” Putin was quoted as saying. “We will not go down this path in any case and no one will build a wall around us. That is impossible!”
Russia’s ties with the West are at their worst since the Cold War because of Ukraine, where more than 4,300 people have been killed since violence erupted in the east mid-April.
As the West pressures Moscow over Ukraine, Putin accused Washington and Brussels of disregarding Russia’s interests.
“When Russia starts ... safeguarding people and its interests, it immediately becomes bad (in the view of the West), he said. “You think it’s over our position over east Ukraine or Crimea? Absolutely not! If it wasn’t for that, they would have found a different reason. It has always been like that.”
The sanctions hit Russia’s weak economy and sparked a slide in the rouble, which shed about a third of its value this year.
Economic woes are exacerbated by a sharp drop in the global price for oil, one of Russia’s main exports.
“If the price of energy is lowered on purpose, this also hits those who introduce those limits,” Putin said, adding that major producers such as the United States and Saudi Arabia could be in cahoots to lower prices and harm the Russian economy.
He said that big supply, which he blamed for the price fall, came from the US shale fields, Libya and Saudi Arabia, as well as from Iraq, including what he said were black market sales by Islamic State militants who hold swathes of that country.
However, he struck a defiant tone on possible consequences for the Russian stagnant economy.
“It’s far from certain that sanctions, sharp falls in the oil price (and) the depreciation of the national currency will cause negative effects or catastrophic consequences only for us. No such thing will happen!”
Putin also did not rule out running for the presidency again in 2018 when his current term expires, though he denied he wanted to rule until death.
He first came to Russia’s top job as acting president on the last day of 1999, remaining the country’s paramount leader ever since.
“Yes, the possibility exists of my standing as a candidate again. Whether or not it will happen, I don’t know yet,” Putin said.
He said that although the constitution allows him to stand for another term, “that absolutely doesn’t mean that I will take such a decision. I will look at the general context, my inner feelings, my mood”.
“Is it really necessary to think about this now? 2014 isn’t yet over and you’re talking about 2018,” Putin asked.
At the same time, the Russian president ruled out staying on forever.
“No, that’s wrong for the country, it’s harmful, and I don’t need it,” Putin said.
Under the Russian constitution, Putin is allowed to hold office for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
After completing his second consecutive term in office in 2008, he got around the constitutional limit by swapping roles with Dmitry Medvedev and serving as prime minister for one term, before returning to the presidency.
Now aged 62, Putin would turn 72 in 2024. Soviet leaders Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev held onto power to a more advanced age, dying at 74 and 75 respectively while still in office.
Putin had last commented in 2013 on whether he would run for a fourth term, saying: “I do not rule it out.”






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