New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS): Russia planned to ride out sanctions imposed by Western countries that have sent the rouble tumbling, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said, BBC reported.

"The Western sanctions on Russia are hard, but our country has the necessary potential to compensate [for] the damage," Peskov said on Monday.

He added that "today Putin will be working on economic questions" and meeting key ministers including the finance minister and central bank governor.

It comes after the UK, along with the US and EU, cut off Russia's banks from financial markets in the West, stopping dealings with the central bank, state-owned investment funds and the finance ministry.

As a result, Russia's central bank has more than doubled its key interest rate to 20 per cent from 9.5 per cent.

It marks a bid to halt the rapid fall in the value of Russia's currency, the rouble against the US dollar, which threatens to wipe out its buying power and destroy the savings of ordinary Russians, BBC reported.