Russia: June 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute on Thursday to Tsar Peter the Great on the 350th anniversary of his birth, drawing a parallel between what he portrayed as their twin historic quests to win back Russian lands.

"Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them. He did not take anything from them, he returned (what was Russia's)," Putin said after a visiting an exhibition dedicated to the tsar.

In televised comments on day 106 of his war in Ukraine, he compared Peter's campaign with the task facing Russia today.

Peter the Great, an autocratic moderniser admired by liberal and conservative Russians alike, gave his name to a new capital, St Petersburg – Putin's hometown – that he ordered built on land he conquered from Sweden.

Prior to Putin's visit to the exhibition, state television aired a documentary praising Peter the Great as a tough military leader, greatly expanding territory at the expense of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire.

Putin also mentioned while being televised at a meeting with young entrepreneurs that “no Iron Curtain would fall over the Russian economy, despite the sanctions imposed by the West, because Moscow would not close itself off from the world like the Soviet Union did.”

Asked about possible deals with partners such as China and India amid the "closure" of Russia's economy, Putin, speaking ahead of next week's St Petersburg Economic Forum, said Russia's economy would remain open.

"We will not have a closed economy, we have not had one and we will not have one," Putin told young entrepreneurs in a televised meeting.

"We did not have a closed economy - or rather we did in the Soviet times when we cut ourselves off, created the so-called Iron Curtain, we created it with our own hands. We will not make the same mistake again - our economy will be open."

President Putin also mentioned t Russian companies will not block off their oil wells despite the West's efforts to lessen its dependence on energy supplies from Moscow.

The United States introduced its embargo on Russian imports in March just days after Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine, while the European Union agreed last month in principle to gradually cut 90% of its oil imports from Russia by the end of this year.

Putin said the West will not be able to completely stop using Russian energy resources over next few years.

"As far as refusal from our energy resources is concerned, this is unlikely for the next few years, while it's not clear, what will happen during those few years. That's why, no one will pour cement into the wells," 

^{PHOTO:  RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN MEETING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN MOSCOW AHEAD OF ST PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM (SPIEF) / ST PETERSBURG RESIDENTS COMMENTING ON RUSSIA-EUROPE RELATIONS / VIEWS OF ST PETERSBURG}