Putin says exit of companies will help Russia end dependency on foreign technologies

Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday, said that the withdrawal of western companies from Russia will allow the country to do away with humiliating dependencies on foreign technologies. Calling it a “blessing in disguise”, he said the fact that western companies were leaving Russian markets made them “finally move on.” Dozens of multinationals-including Netflix, Amazon and Starbucks-have halted supplies and ended services in Russia in retaliation to Putin's “unprovoked” war on Ukraine.

"This, of course, is a humiliating condition. In this case, I would want to say, a blessing in disguise. The fact that they are leaving makes us finally move on, because relying on foreign technologies all the time means sinking into dependence, this humiliating and very dangerous dependence since this dependence is gradually expanding and getting from one area into another, including into very critical areas related to military technologies," Putin told followers at the forum ‘Strong Ideas for a New Time' as per TASS.

China, India are countries with potential for Russian products 

The Kremlin leader furthermore highlighted his ‘Look East’ policy saying that modern Russian technologies could be presented to countries like China and India. Answering Pavel Frolov, founder of Robbo Robotic engineering company, Putin said "As far as gifts are concerned, I will present such gifts with pleasure to my colleagues; it will be interesting for them," the Russian President also said that leaders in both the countries were enthusiastic about “modern technologies.”

He said, "Both India and China are vast countries with tremendous prospects and potential. Leaders of these countries are certainly dealing in full scope with resolution of tasks the entire mankind faces; they are merely enthusiastic with issues of modern technologies. Much has been done in China and India". "Russia also has good prospects in this sphere and "we have things for joint work," the 69-year-old added.

Notably, over 1000 companies have pulled back from Russia since it began its military offensive in Ukraine. According to the statistics given by the Kyiv School of Economics, as many as 1037 companies have left Russia and 438 others have reduced their operations in the country. The Kyiv School of Economics has noted that 590 companies continue to operate in Russia. 

(Image: Kremlin)