MOSCOW, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The difficulties on the Russian fuel market are temporary and cannot affect the overall economic dynamics, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a government meeting on economic issues on Wednesday.
"I would like to note that the state of the domestic economy and its key sectors is stable -- even despite external attempts to destabilize the situation in the fuel and energy complex and in some other sectors," said Putin.
The president's remarks come against the backdrop of frequent official reports about Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian drones struck the Omsk refinery in early July and the Moscow refinery in mid-June. The strikes caused a domestic fuel deficit in Russia and prompted the introduction of export restrictions by the government.
Putin added that Russia's gross domestic product grew by 0.3 percent in May, and for the first five months of the year growth was 0.2 percent. ■