Putin blames West for frosty relations

President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for worsening relations with Russia since the Ukraine crisis and said Moscow would not allow itself to become internationally isolated behind another ‘Iron Curtain’.

In an interview published by state news agency TASS Putin also said Western sanctions against Moscow, combined with the slide in the rouble and oil price falls would have no “catastrophic consequences” on Russia’s economy.

The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and ratcheted them up over Moscow’s backing for separatists fighting Kiev troops to split east Ukraine.