Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed to speed up the transition of foreign trade to rubles and national currencies of other countries. He said this during a meeting on economic issues.

The president also emphasized that Russia had withstood the economic pressure of the West.

“We can already confidently say that such a policy towards Russia has failed. The strategy of economic blitzkrieg has failed. Moreover, the sanctions did not go in vain for the initiators themselves.”

The President added that the situation will stabilize. The ruble exchange rate has already returned to the levels of the first half of February.

According to Putin, the inflation rate of 17.5% as of April 8 is a high value. Therefore, it is necessary to support Russians and cope with the inflationary wave, to support domestic demand.