Russia ready to face global economic storms

Moscow stands ready to protect the Russian economy from any turbulence in the European and world markets, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. "We believe the measures being undertaken by our partners would change the state of affairs for the better. But from our part, we will secure ourselves maximally from any negative development in the European and global economy," Putin told participants of the international investment forum "Russia Calling." The Russian budget has been drafted for 2013-2015 and takes into account the unstable situation in the global markets, Putin said. "We can't help but worry that there is an obvious recession in some European countries," Putin said, adding that over 50 percent of Russia's trade involves the European Union. Putin said taming inflation in Russia remains the primary task of the Russian government so that by 2014 the inflation rate will not exceed 5 percent. In 2011, inflation in Russia fell to a 20-year-low of 6.1 percent. Meanwhile, Putin said Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was an important move to secure the country's economic stability. "We hope this step would positively affect investors' mood and open gate for promising projects," he said. Russia is open to direct investment, and the privatization of state-owned companies will continue, Putin said. The president also promised that the long-awaited central depository will open in November. The goal of the central depository is to let foreign investors enter the Russian financial market and make the system more transparent, Putin said.