'We are the largest economy in Europe, despite pressure from every side': Russian President Putin

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the country has become Europe's first economy and stands at number fifth in the world in terms of purchasing power parity, according to Russian media outlet TASS.

He said that Russia is the largest economy in Europe, leaving the entire continent behind in terms of purchasing power parity.

"It seems that we are being strangled and pressured from every side, but still, we are the largest economy in Europe," Putin said at a meeting with entrepreneurs active in Russia's Far East, according to TASS.

"We left Germany behind and climbed to fifth in the world [in terms of GDP at purchasing power parity]: China, the US, India, Japan and Russia. We are number one in Europe," he added.

The Russian President, however, underlined that the country still "needs to work harder" for the per capita indicator. "We have left all of Europe behind in terms of purchasing power parity but as for the per capita indicator, we need to work harder. There is still work to be done," TASS quoted him as saying.

Since the war began, Russia has been unable to access the substantial portion of its foreign exchange reserves held by its central bank which were blocked in the West as a part of the sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, according to CNN.

The Russia-Ukraine war started on February 24, 2022. A day after, the European Union introduced wide-ranging sanctions intended to send a clear signal to Moscow that there would be severe consequences for the war.

The bloc has imposed 11 sanctions packages to date and last week said it would work to shut down loopholes in the existing measures. EU officials have suggested the sanctions could remain in place for years, Al Jazeera reported.

(ANI)