Putin calls for measures to counter Western sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told the Federal Security Service, known by the acronym FSB, to help Russian companies bust Western sanctions and expand their clout into new markets around the world.

In a speech at the FSB annual meeting at Lubyanka in central Moscow following his landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election, Putin says Russia's "wartime economy" has thrived despite the sanctions, with the manufacture of artillery shells far exceeding the West's and the Russian economy growing 3.6 percent last year.

Putin said the FSB should work with other agencies to increase the security of the banking and financial systems, and "to provide support to our companies that are actively developing despite the obstacles created for them and which are exploring new markets but are faced with openly hostile actions" from the West.

Putin also discussed the cross-border incursions during the meeting with FSB officials, saying the Kremlin wants to create a buffer zone to help protect border regions from long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids that have occurred with more frequency in recent months.

Meanwhile, the new head of Russia's Navy was formally presented in his new role for the first time on Tuesday at a pomp-filled ceremony, the state RIA news agency reported, confirming the appointment of Admiral Alexander Moiseev as acting head of the Navy.

RIA showed a video of the ceremony at the Port of Kronstadt near St. Petersburg where it said Moiseev was presented as acting head of the Navy.

His appointment follows a series of sustained Ukrainian attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is traditionally based in Crimea.

Moiseev served on nuclear submarines for more than 29 years and has been decorated as a Hero of Russia, the country's top military award. He was appointed acting commander and then commander of the Black Sea Fleet in 2018. Moiseev was also appointed commander of the Northern Fleet in 2019 before taking up his current role.

Separately, the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed on Tuesday the bloc should take 90 percent of revenues from Russian assets frozen in Europe and transfer them to an EU-run fund that finances weapons for Ukraine.

Borrell told reporters in Brussels he would submit a formal proposal to the EU's 27 member countries on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of the bloc's leaders on Thursday and Friday.

Under Borrell's plan, proceeds from the assets such as interest payments would go to the European Peace Facility, an off-budget fund that provides military aid to countries outside the EU and has been used mainly for Ukraine.

Some 70 percent of all Russian assets immobilized in the West are held in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, which has the equivalent of $206.1 billion worth of various Russian central bank securities and cash.