Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a video conference meeting on the draft of 2024 federal budget and the planning period of 2025 and 2026 at Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Sept 18, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

MOSCOW - Russia has withstood the unprecedented pressure from Western sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

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"We have withstood the absolutely unprecedented external pressure, the sanctions onslaught of some ruling elites in the ... Western bloc ... in individual countries that we call unfriendly," Putin said during a meeting on the federal budget for 2024-2026.

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"Russia's GDP has reached the level of 2021, and now, it is important to create conditions for further stable and long-term development," he said, announcing that the country's economic recovery period is now complete.