MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the threat ofnuclear war should not be underestimated, but that he hoped that commonsense would prevail.
Speaking at his annual news conference, Putin said it was hard to predictwhat the consequences would be of a US withdrawal from the landmarkintermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, signed in 1987.
Russian President said that Russian economy can rank fifth in the world interms of volume and that such a breakthrough would need changing thestructure of the country’s economy.
He said that Russia ‘needs to enter a different league in terms of qualityof economy’.
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Earlier in December the World Bank said economic growth in Russia will bemodest over the next two years with a possible expansion of westernsanctions and high geopolitical tension making for an unfavorable outlook.
But Russia’s fundamentals, including its international reserves, would helpit to absorb “external shocks”, it said in a regular report.
