MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia's economy has overcome a recession.

Putin said during Thursday's live call-in show televised nationwide that the "crisis is over," pointing at an economic growth over the past nine months. He also pointed at low inflation and rising hard currency reserves.

The Russian economy had plunged into recession under the impact of a drop in global oil prices and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Putin acknowledged that the Russian economy hasn't yet shed its dependence on exports of raw materials, but noted that non-energy exports have been growing.