Putin: Russia's Keys Are Science, Education And Technology

Speaking at the 14th annual news conference Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian economy could be ranked fifth in the world, in terms of volume, but that such a breakthrough would require changing the structure of the country's economy.

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"[Russia] needs to enter a different league in terms of quality of its economy," Putin said before stressing the importance of science, education and technology in the country's future.

The regions of Russia, he explained, should bet on work in that direction.

"If we do not set ambitious goals, we will never get any results," Putin stated, adding that the country which achieves leadership in the development of artificial intelligence "will rule the world."

Earlier in December, the World Bank said Russia's economic growth will be modest over the next two years, mostly due to a possible expansion of Western sanctions and geopolitical tensions.

Asked if those sanctions could affect his country, Putin responded bluntly: "Russia, for most of its life, has lived under sanctions" and the country has been constantly adapting.

So much is the economy adaptation that the fall of GDP, in 2015, had very little to do with sanctions applied against Russia at the time.

"And the West lost the Russian market and [its] number of working people felt," Putin commented, and added that the Western countries' insistence on introducing sanctions is due to the fact that "Russia is becoming increasingly powerful."

According to the Russian president, the sanctions have no logic and that their actual goal is to contain the Eurasian country.