LONDON: Sergei Chemezov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said that the military operation in Ukraine had prevented an attack on Russia, which would emerge victorious from the sanctions imposed by the West.

“It won’t be a simple life,” Chemezov was quoted as telling the Rostec corporation. “The sanctions are rather serious.”

“But if you glance at Russia’s history, Russia has all its history battled with different sanctions, enemies which encircled it, and it always came out as the victor,” Chemezov was quoted as saying. “This will happen now.”