President of Russia said that Western allies are “punishing” themselves with the sanctions levied against Russia.

In his defiant address, Vladimir Putin said the West had “not achieved success” in its military and economic “aggression” against Russia - nor would it.

“The initiators of the sanctions are punishing themselves. They provoked a growth of prices in their own countries, closures of factories, collapse of energy sector. They are telling their citizens it’s the Russians who are to blame”, - he said.

Putin also said the sanctions are an attempt to destabilize Russian society, but he insisted that its economy remains strong. He added that Russia has all the financial resources it requires to guarantee its national security and development.

“Sanctions are just a means, but the objective as the West says and I say directly to force our citizens to suffer. They are trying to destabilize our society from inside, but their attempts were not justified and were not successful”, - he added.