Vladimir Putin said Russia would not tolerate any attempts to damage its interests however.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would stand up for its own interests, but had no intention of getting involved in any geopolitical confrontations.
"We are not seeking and have never sought enemies. We need friends," Putin said during his annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin.
Putin said that Russia would not tolerate any attempts to damage its interests however.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, Christian Lowe, Andrey Kuzmin and Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Osborn)© Thomson Reuters 2016
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