RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine are having a real impact on domestic businesses.

    He also told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that access to funding for many Russian companies has become limited due to the punitive measures.

    He added that the United States could be pressing sanctions against Russia to win competitive advantage over Europe.

    “Maybe our American friends — they are sophisticated guys — want to get a competitive advantage in their trade and economic relations over Europe,” Putin said.

    Putin said sanctions imposed on Russia would have a boomerang effect on the West.

    Criticizing the United States, he said the vision of a “unipolar” world had failed and hailed European companies for taking a more “pragmatic” approach to Russia.

    The European Union (EU), heavily reliant on Russian gas supplies, has been more reluctant than Washington to impose tough sanctions on Russia.

    The EU should consider the interests of European companies working in Russia when deciding on whether to impose sanctions on Moscow over its involvement in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin’s top economic aide said Saturday.

    The United States and EU have already hit dozens of officials, lawmakers and companies close to Putin with sanctions and EU leaders are due to discuss this week further steps they could take against Russia.

    “I hope very much that when making these decisions ... the dependence and interests of European companies that are working in Russia [will be considered],” Andrei Belousov told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

    “These are European companies, which are working here, working for European markets for the most part, and which are taking suitcases full of cash to Europe.”(SD-Agencies)