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 Sanctions imposed by the West over Moscow's involvement in the
separatist conflict in Ukraine have limited Russia's access to
foreign cash, sent the rouble to historic lows and slowed economic
growth to a crawl.
Moscow in retaliation has imposed sanctions on Western countries.
Some politicians and economists, including the head of the
nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, and an economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin,
Sergei Glazyev, have called for isolating the Russian economy from
Western markets.
"Any discussions about fundamental changes to the model of economic
development, in the direction of a mobilizational or closed economy,
are inappropriate and unnecessary," Medvedev told a business
conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
He said Russia is ready to work on improving its relations with the
European Union and the United States, which are currently at their
worst since the fall of the Soviet Union, but said Moscow's partners
must "learn to listen to Russia."
"History shows that any attempts to put pressure on Russia have been
unsuccessful," he told a crowd of mostly Russian businessmen and
politicians.
ASIAN STRATEGY
Following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March
and Western penalties for the move, Moscow has embarked on a pivot
to Asia, signing a series of trade and business agreements, mainly
with China.
The country's top gas producer, state-controlled Gazprom, struck a
30-year $400 billion gas supply deal with China in May.
Medvedev said things are not moving as fast as needed when it comes
to improving those relations. But Russia's pivot East is an
"absolutely objective" development, he said.
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"I hope everyone understands that our new strategy in Asia is not
senseless revenge against Europe as it is presented by many
political analysts in the West," Medvedev said.
"This is the natural course of events and a thought-through response
to the changing conditions of economic development."
Much work is still needed to improve political and corporate trust
between Russia and Asian partners, but the benefits of the tactical
shift would be far-reaching, he said.
"The growth of our country's role in the Asian region ... without
doubt contributes to raising our authority in other places as well,
including in the West."
(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska and Alexander Winning in
Moscow; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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