President Putin has shared his vision on Russia's role on the global arena.
The world is undergoing a major transformation that affects all fields of life, he said.
"The St. Petersburg forum traditionally serves as a platform for the discussion of strategic issues and challenges. Such a talk is even more important today, when the world is undergoing a major transformation, when deep changes affect almost all areas of life," Putin said addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The Russian leader noted that the lack of economic growth after the 2009 crisis is at the core of geopolitical tensions.
Structural problems in global economy hamper growth resumption, he acknowledged.
"After the 2008-2009 crisis, it was possible to partly balance the finances, to limit but not overcome the problem of debt growth, to make cash flows more transparent and manageable. However, structural problems, which accumulated in the global economy, remain. It is still hard to succeed in restarting the growth," the president said.
The current geopolitical tensions are linked to the depletion of former sources of growth and may intensify, he added.
"The current geopolitical tensions are linked to a certain extent to economic uncertainty, to the exhaustion of the old sources of growth. There is a risk it may intensify and could even be artificially provoked," Vladimir Putin said.
By 2025, he added, there will be a single energy market and Russia will play a vital role in it.
On Monopoly on new Technologies
Vladimir Putin also noted that there are attempts in the world to secure monopoly on new technologies.
He added that creation of barriers to stop technologies from being transferred to other parts of the world may lead to new problems.
"Today, we can see attempts to secure [right for technologies] or even to monopolize the benefits from technologies of the next generation. I think, the creation of enclosed regulatory areas with barriers for the flows of the breakthrough technologies to other regions of the world, with rigid control over the cooperation chains for the maximum extraction of technological rent, is related to that," Vladimir Putin said.
The Russian leader stressed that it is impossible to contain technologies in an enclosed area in the contemporary world.
On the Role of the Eurasian Economic Union
The Eurasian Economic Union might become a center of further economic development.
"We are creating a Greater Eurasian Partnership, including existing partners and new ones such as China, Pakistan, India as well as other.
We are strengthening intellectual property rights and will then be lowering customs tariffs. The EU is our key economic neighbor," the president said.
The president said that talks with China on creating a major Eurasian partnership will begin by the end of the month.
"In June, we are planning to officially launch talks with our Chinese partners on the creation of a comprehensive trade and economic partnership in Eurasia with the participation of the Eurasian Economic Union and China," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"I expect this to be one of the first steps of creating a large Eurasian partnership," he added.
Around 40 states and international organizations expressed readiness to cooperate with Eurasian Economic Union, said the Russian leader.
European business wants and is ready to cooperate with Russia, the president said. Politicians should understand this and resume the level of cooperation.
On Anti-Russian Sanctions
"Regarding the sanctions, all Russia’s actions are reciprocal, we do not hold a grudge, but it is “not a one way road,” the Russian leader said.
However import substitution is an important stage in Russia's economic development and helps include Russia as equal partner in international economic alliances, the president said.
Russia solved its worst economic problems and see growth in the future, the president said. The problem of capital outflow has been tamed, inflation of 5% is achievable in the medium term.
"We must move away from hydro-carbon dependency," Vladimir Putin also noted.
On Labor Market and Labor Efficiency
Labor efficiency growth of 5% per year must be achieved across a range of industries, the Russian leader said.
Labor market flexibility must be increased, through new jobs in SMEs. SMEs growing rapidly in Russia, especially in service industry.
The Russian Export Center was created by government to support exports, but more can be done across a number of business areas such as certification and easier access to financing.
On Improving of Economic, Business and Investment Conditions in Russia
The president also called for more transparency in Russian judicial system.
Law enforcement agencies will be looking closely at improving economic, business, investment conditions, he promised.
"We are working on new technologies for new markets. The government should lift bureaucracy which interferes with this work," the president said.
On Education
The Russian leader also ntoed that education is the most important thing Russia should focus on. Russia leads the world in the number of engineering students.
With regards to the future business, the president said that special new structures to manage investment and business will be created, headed by the President and the Prime Minister.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently answering questions at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He has commented on NATO expansion and its missile defense system in Europe, situation in Ukraine, Russia's defense complex and situation in Syria.
"Russia has encountered complete disregard for its stance, including with missile defense and NATO expansion," the president said while commenting on the expansion of the alliance.
Development of international relations cannot be based on global confrontation, he added.
Referring to Russia's defense complex, the president said that no one thought in early 2000s that Russia, with its internal problems and contradictions, would be able to restore its defense abilities.
The Russian leader has also commented on the Ukrainian crisis and similar color revolutions which happened worldwide.
Fueling global tensions and revolutions like the one in Ukraine seems to be necessary to justify NATO's existence, the Russian leader said. West has avidly supported color revolutions, which has led to chaos, he added.
When asked about the Ukrainian conflict and the fulfillment of the Minsk accords, Vladimir Putin noted that f current Ukrainian authorities had assumed their positions in a democratic way, Russia would easily have cooperated with them.
However the president stressed that Russia aims for compromise in relations with west and opposes fueling of tensions.
On the Syrian Crisis
When asked about the situation in Syria, the president noted that Russia counts on US to convince Syrian opposition to hold constructive dialogue with Damascus. He added that President Assad agrees on the need to create effective leadership in Syria.
"Most important thing in Syria is to avoid that country falls apart, risk of this is currently high," he said.
He noted that he agrees with the US proposal to include Syrian opposition representatives in current syrian government.
On the US Presidential Elections
Commenting on the upcoming presidential elections in the US, Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to cooperate with any elected US president, however adding that he expects sense of responsibility to push next US president to cooperate with Russia.
"World needs a powerful country like the United States, but Russia is not interested in anyone else telling it what to do," the Russian leader said.
Moscow also does not want US pressure to reflect on Russia-EU cooperation, the president said.
On the Doping Scandal
The president was also asked to comment on Russian doping scandal.
"Russia categorically opposes any doping in sports," the president said, adding that Russia has fought and will continue to fight doping on state level.
However the Russian leader said that doping problem is not just Russian, it affects entire sports world and should not be politicized.
Vladimir Putin noted that responsibility for doping can be only individual and should not affect entire teams. Russian prosecutor general's office, investigative committee are carrying out comprehensive anti-doping investigation, he added.
On the European Football Cup in France
The president called mass fight between football supporters in France a 'complete disgrace', however added that all those involved should be treated equally.
