2016121407

Russia believes in the universality of economic rules, because if the world economy is divided into isolated economic blocs, it will be difficult to apply international rules, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Japanese Nippon TV and Yomiuri newspaper.

According to Putin, “if the world economy is divided into isolated economic blocs, it will be rather difficult to achieve the same interpretation and application of international rules of economic activity and world trade.” “This is why we believe in the universality of these rules,” he added.

The Russian leader went on to say that Moscow was concerned over the creation of the Pacific partnership and the Atlantic partnership. Putin pointed out that “this is being done bypassing the World Trade Organization, since it has proved impossible to reach compromise solutions with developing economies within the framework of that organization.” “And if regional associations are created, they should work on the basis of WTO norms, on the WTO basis,” the Russian president stressed.

He also said that “time will tell” “how this works out in the near future, when a new (US) administration is formed.”

On the whole, in Putin’s words, “any restrictions in the economic sphere that are dictated by considerations of political expediency are extremely harmful for the world economy as a whole.” “This destroys unity and the rules of the game,” Putin said noting that “we are going through a very acute crisis in world trade, international trade, related, among other things, to restrictions on the markets of certain countries.”