Russia Needs To Compensate 40-45% of Import Deficit In Short Term Period — Peskov

Russia needs to compensate in a short term period about 40-45% of its import deficit, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview.

“We are now even feeling a little bit better than one would think,” CNN quoted Peskov as saying in English.

“Of course, we understand our problems, we understand that in a very short time we will have to compensate the quite a significant decrease in more than 40%-45% in imports,” he continued.

Peskov stressed that “unprecedented” economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia were aimed to bring “the crucial effect” but it “didn’t happen.”

“In order to reorganize imports, we have to reorganize the direction of imports. To compensate for the western direction, by increasing imports from the eastern direction,” he added.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.

Russian President Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

After that, the United States, the EU and some other countries announced that they were imposing sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses.