Russia has no intention of shutting itself off from anyone and is prepared to work with any foreign partner who wishes it so, President Vladimir Putin said.
"We ourselves are not going to shut ourselves off from anyone. We are open to working with all our foreign partners who want to," Putin said at a meeting with Russian government members on Thursday.
He demanded protection for the rights of the foreign investors who are not going to leave Russia. "The rights of those of our foreign investors and colleagues who remain and work in Russia must be reliably protected. I ask the government not to lose sight of it," Putin said.
A different attitude should be towards the companies that decided to close their operations in Russia, he said. "Those going to shut their production facilities, on this we need to act decisively and by no means allow any damage to local Russian parts suppliers. We need, as our head of government suggested, to introduce external administration and later transfer these businesses to those who want to work," Putin said.
"There are sufficient legal, market tools, and no need to allow for any arbitrariness," he said.
