Putin: Banning imports - a simple, but dangerous path

During a Kremlin press conference on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that supporting Russian goods did not mean restricting access to the Russian market for foreign wares.

In his opinion, a ban on foreign imports would be "the simplest, but most dangerous path." The president said that if excessive measures were taken in this respect, prices would immediately rocket.

Putin is convinced that, when acting to support Russian producers, the authorities should not forget about consumers.

While answering journalists' questions, the president said that this principle should also guide actions with regard to Russian culture.

The president stressed that the influx of foreign TV programmes, films and books could hardly please Russian producers.

Nevertheless, in his opinion, to support culture means to create conditions that can increase the competitiveness of Russian producers.

Putin believes that Russia must compete with other countries in the cultural sphere and that enough examples of this already exist.