MOSCOW

Russia cannot be isolated and it is inextricably linked with the rest of the world, where it has many friends, the prime minister said on Monday.

Speaking at the international industrial exhibition Innoprom-2022 in Yekaterinburg, Mikhail Mishustin noted that the number of participants this year has exceeded the last year's figure.

The prime minister admitted that the Western sanctions provoked some decline in the Russian economy, however, none of the sectors in the country have neared critical indicators, he said.

On the contrary, there is an acceleration of growth rates in electronics, pharmaceuticals, and many other industries, Mishustin added.

Meanwhile, the sanctions changed Russia's priorities and the main task on the agenda is to build technological sovereignty in a short time, he said.

"Sanctions barriers and prohibitions have radically changed the existing order. No country in the world can ever again guarantee the supply of important products from abroad.

"This means that we need to build technological sovereignty in a short time," he noted.

Apart from technologies, Mishustin listed as priorities the development of aircraft and shipbuilding.

Innoprom is a large-scale international industrial exhibition annually held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

According to the organizers, its purpose is to present advanced technologies developed in Russia, facilitate the spreading of the best innovation practices, and develop business connections between industrial enterprises and technology developers.