Russia becoming 'new global growth centre', says President Vladimir Putin

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that economic isolation from the West was only helping Russia to become a new growth centre in a world entering a period of radical change, as the West fell behind.
 

Russia’s export-focused economy has proved more resilient than either Moscow or its adversaries anticipated when the West sought to punish and isolate it with sweeping sanctions for sending its troops into Ukraine in early 2022. Putin told the “Russia Calling” business forum in Moscow that gross domestic product (GDP) was set to grow 3.5 per cent this year. “The world has entered an era of radical changes and serious tests not only for specific companies and sectors, but also for whole countries and regions of the world,” Putin said. “Only a strong, stable and, I stress, sovereign country will be able to pass this phase successfully, to become one of the growth centres of the new global economy.” Putin said the Western financial system was becoming technologically obsolete.
 

Putin moves a step closer to fifth term as president
 

Lawmakers in Russia set the country’s 2024 presidential election for March 17, moving Vladimir Putin a step closer to a fifth term in office. Members of the Federation Council voted unanimously to approve a decree setting the date.