BOCHAROV RUCHEY (SOCHI), August 9 (RIA Novosti) — Western companies are determined to work with Russia, despite sanctions, Moscow welcomes this intention and is ready to widen the cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday.
"Today, commercial success is measured by the effective international cooperation. The business community, in particular major Russian and foreign companies, understands this very well, and despite the difficulties of the current political situation, pragmatism and common sense still prevail, and we are happy about that," Putin said during a video conference from the floating rig in the Kara Sea held in the framework of the joint project between Russia’s Rosneft and US ExxonMobil.
Russia’s oil giant Rosneft and Texas-based ExxonMobil Corporation are due to start drilling in the Kara Sea off Russia’s northern coast in mid-August.
"In our opinion, this is a truly responsible business approach, and only such an approach can be productive. We definitely welcome this position, and in turn, we are open for widening cooperation with our partners," Russian leader added.
The European Union, the United States and some other countries have compiled sanctions lists against Russian companies, banks, politicians, as well as the financial, energy and defense sectors of the Russian economy. The move has been linked to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly called the measures counterproductive and stressed that Russia was never involved in the Ukrainian conflict.
On August 7, Russia imposed a one-year ban on agricultural and food product imports from the countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis, namely Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway. The list includes meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk, dairy products, and fruit and vegetables.
