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Russia’s economic hardships are caused not only by external factors, but also by internal problems and government’s mistakes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the government members on Thursday, TASS reported.

“The hardships we are facing are not only external, they are caused not only by the sanctions restrictions or by restrictions linked with the objective international situation, they are also caused by our mistakes that have been made over the years,” the president said.

Putin said that “all this is historical inheritance,” adding that the government has tried to change the structure of the national economy and make it more innovative. “Much has been done on this track as well, but the recent events have shown that’s not enough,” he said.

The president also thanked the government for its work in the current uneasy period, assessing the Cabinet’s work as “quite satisfactory.”

Putin said, “We’ve had an uneasy year.” “Though we can’t remember easy years, but the government in general is certainly coping with the difficulties the national economy and the country in general are facing,” the president said.