During a speech at the Future Technology Forum in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin firmly proclaimed that his nation would not surrender to foreign pressure.
This comes amid Western attempts to stymie Russia’s technological progress by limiting its access to technology.
“Our opponents expected that we would retreat or surrender,” Putin declared. “This will not happen, as we often say in such cases.”
Instead, he affirmed Russia’s commitment to carve out its own path, emphasizing that his nation would not isolate itself, RT News reports.
“To external pressure, we will respond only by improving the quality and efficiency of work and spreading freedom,” he said.
He characterized the West’s 2022 technology embargo as an effort to undermine Russia’s sovereignty and the nation’s ability to navigate its own historical course.
Putin highlighted how Moscow had responded similarly in 2014 when the first wave of sanctions led to an accelerated improvement in domestic capacities.
“The same ‘positive processes’ that happened with Russian agriculture are now happening with manufacturing and technology,” he observed.
Meanwhile, the Russian president has also said that Ukraine should in fact work to ensure its security, but not by creating threats to Russia, according to TASS.
“Every country has a right to ensure its security and, of course, it has a right to choose the way to achieve that goal that it considers the best,” he said.
However, he insisted that “the work to achieve security for one country shouldn’t create threats for another country.”
“Therefore, we proceed from the understanding that this principle, which has been repeatedly proclaimed in various international documents, will be taken into account,” he added. “Ukraine, of course, has a right to ensure its security.”
According to the president, a draft agreement between Moscow and Kiev, which was put together in Istanbul and stipulated detailed guarantees of Ukraine’s security was acceptable.
“The draft agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which was prepared in Istanbul and was subsequently tossed into the trash bin by the Ukrainian regime, set out in great detail the issues of ensuring Ukraine’s security,” Putin explained. “We still had to think whether we agree with everything that was laid out there, but on the whole, I believe that this document was acceptable.”
