World Bulletin / News Desk 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the country should not cut itself of from foreign investment and technologies.

"We should not, on any account, cut ourselves off" from the kind of foreign investment and technology that can drive economic growth, Putin told a conference of business people.

After annexing Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, Russia was hit with Western sanctions that limited its access to foreign capital and technologies, especially for the banking, energy and defence sectors. Russia imposed retaliatory sanctions.