Putin says Russia bought technology abroad ‘like in a supermarket’ before the war

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this Thursday that before the war with Ukraine, Russia was buying technology abroad like in a “supermarket” and that with the sanctions it was possible to increase its own production and new skills in crucial sectors.

“As they say, we bought a lot of critical technologies in someone else’s store, in a sort of supermarket of ready-made solutions, and in a moment the door slammed in front of us and a “closed” sign appeared on the door. ”, Putin said at the first Forum of Future Technologies.

“We have learned the lessons and drawn the necessary conclusions. The government, public and private companies have done a lot to change this state of affairs,” he added.

Putin pointed out that the West sought to undermine Russia’s security by making it dependent on foreign technology.

“Let’s be frank, this is what some countries mean when they literally try to put our country on foreign technological platforms and standards by any means. And I must admit, not without success,” he said.

Putin said a similar situation occurred in 2014, after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, when the West imposed the first wave of sanctions that Russia saw as an opportunity for its own development in some areas, including agriculture.

“Today, the same positive processes are gaining momentum in industry and technology. We understand that in the current conditions, the main thing for determining development is the concentration of efforts on priority tasks,” Putin said.

The Kremlin leader considered that initially it is necessary to focus on areas where Russia already has world-class technologies and products, such as nuclear energy and artificial intelligence.

Secondly, according to the head of state, the country should focus on those areas that are crucial for its development and where Russia should have its own competencies.

At the same time, “we must have not only scientific developments and fundamental solutions, but also the entire technological and production chain, our own equipment, basic elements, “software”,” he added.

Putin also acknowledged that the need for IT resources is growing, which requires the “shutdown” of the Russian microelectronics industry to create their own solutions and accelerate the development of large neural network models for artificial intelligence.

The Russian leader also stressed that the development of critical technologies in the future will determine the configuration of national economies and the map of the world as a whole.

In this sense, he proposed by 2030 to start a new national project to form a “data economy”.