Putin calls for strengthening economic sovereignty in Russia

Russia needs to strengthen its economic sovereignty first and foremost, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

"Our first task today is to increase the economic sovereignty and transform our economy into a highly-productive and highly-technological one," Putin told a media forum in St. Petersburg, the country's northern capital.

Russia's energy-reliant economy has suffered from a 50-percent oil price drop since the summer of 2014, as well as anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western countries over Ukraine crisis.

Putin also called for creating a better environment for private investment in different economic sectors including the defense industry.

"This is one of the key points that should be included in Russia's economic development agenda -- to attract private investments, both Russian and foreign ones," Putin said, adding that Russia should create an open economy.

The president stressed that what Russia is facing now cannot be called a crisis, while expressing the confidence that the economy will adapt to new realities sooner or later.

"It is clear to everyone that the fundamentals of the Russian economy have strengthened, and stability cannot be destroyed," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Putin as saying.

Putin said on Monday that the Russian economy has overcome artificial barriers "relatively easily." Endi