This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 7 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had not lost anything in a global confrontation with the United States over the conflict in Ukraine but had actually gained by setting a new sovereign course that would restore its global clout.
Putin increasingly casts the conflict in Ukraine, which he calls a “special military operation”, as a turning point in history when Russia finally threw off the humiliations which accompanied the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
In an attempt to underscore Russia’s tilt towards Asia, Putin, speaking to the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok, said that the West was failing while Asia was the future.
In his main speech, Putin hardly mentioned Ukraine beyond a reference to grain exports. But when asked by a moderator if anything had been lost from the conflict, Putin said Russia had gained and would emerge renewed and purged of hindrances.
“We have not lost anything and will not lose anything,” Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, said. “Everything that is unnecessary, harmful and everything that prevents us from moving forward will be rejected.”
“In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now,” Putin said. “This will ultimately strengthen our country from within.”
He did, though, acknowledge that the conflict had unleashed “a certain polarization” in both the world and in Russia.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance. Neither side has disclosed how many soldiers have been killed.
Putin, who turns 70 in October, told the West in July he was just getting started in Ukraine and dared the United States – which enjoys economic and conventional military superiority over Russia – to try to defeat Moscow. It would, he said, fail.
WESTERN ‘FEVER’
The confrontation with the West over Ukraine has prompted Russia to embark on a hurried tilt towards Asia, and particularly China, once a junior partner of the Soviet Union and now the world’s second largest economy.
Putin said that the West was failing because a futile and aggressive attempt to isolate Russia with sanctions was destroying the global economy just as Asia was rising to claim the future.
The United States and its allies imposed the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Putin says the sanctions are akin to a declaration of economic war.
“I am speaking of the West’s sanctions fever, with its brazen, aggressive attempt to impose models of behaviour on other countries, to deprive them of their sovereignty and subordinate them to their will,” Putin said.
“In an attempt to resist the course of history, Western countries are undermining the key pillars of the world economic system built over centuries,” he said, adding that confidence in the dollar, euro and sterling was falling.
Among the guests at the forum was China’s top legislator Li Zhanshu, currently ranked No.3 in the Chinese Communist Party. Putin will meet China’s Xi Jinping next week in Uzbekistan.
Putin said that China would pay Gazprom GAZP.MM for its gas in national currencies, based on a 50-50 split between the Russian rouble and Chinese yuan.
The West’s attempt to economically isolate Russia – one of the world’s biggest producers of natural resources – has propelled the global economy into uncharted waters with soaring prices for food and energy.
It has hurt Russia too.
Putin said Russia’s economy was coping with what he termed the financial and technological aggression of the West, but acknowledged some difficulties in some industries and regions.
He warned of a looming global food crisis and said he would discuss amending a landmark grain deal with Ukraine to limit the countries that can receive cargo shipments.
Putin spoke in Russian. The quotes below were translated by Reuters:
ON UKRAINE
“We have not lost anything and will not lose anything. In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now. Of course, a certain polarization is taking place, both in the world and within the country, but I believe that this will only be beneficial, because everything that is unnecessary, harmful and everything that prevents us from moving forward will be rejected. We will gain momentum (in the) pace of development because modern development can only be based on sovereignty. All our steps in this direction are aimed at strengthening our sovereignty.”
“We did not start anything in terms of military actions, we are only trying to end (the conflict). Hostilities began in 2014 after a coup d’état in Ukraine – those who did not want normal peaceful development and sought to suppress their own people, conducting one military operation after another and subjecting the people living in Donbas to genocide for eight years. Russia decided, after repeated attempts to resolve this issue peacefully, to respond tit-for-tat, the way our potential adversary acted… All our actions are aimed at helping the people who live in Donbas. This is our duty and we will fulfil it to the end. This will ultimately strengthen our country from within, as well as its foreign policy positions.”
ON WESTERN DOMINANCE
“Other challenges of a global nature that threaten the whole world have replaced the pandemic. I am speaking of the West’s sanctions fever, with its brazen, aggressive attempt to impose models of behaviour on other countries, to deprive them of their sovereignty and subordinate them to their will.
“There is nothing unusual in this. This is the policy that the West has collectively pursued for decades.
“Western countries are striving to maintain a former world order that is beneficial only to them, to force everyone to live according to the infamous rules that they themselves invented and regularly violate, rules they are constantly changing for themselves depending on the current circumstances.”
ON ECONOMIC TIES WITH THE WEST
“In the spring, many foreign corporations rushed to leave Russia, believing that our country would suffer more from this than others. But now we are seeing how production and jobs in Europe are closing one after another. One of the main reasons for this, of course, is the severance of business ties with Russia. The competitiveness of European enterprises is declining because EU authorities themselves are depriving them of available raw materials, energy resources and sales markets.”
“In an attempt to resist the course of history, Western countries are undermining the key pillars of the world economic system, built over centuries. Before our very eyes, confidence in the dollar, euro and pound sterling as currencies in which it is possible to make settlements, to keep in reserves and denominate assets has been lost. We are moving away step by step from the use of such unreliable currencies that discredit themselves.”
ON GRAIN EXPORTS FROM UKRAINE
“Despite all the difficulties taking place around the events in Ukraine, we did everything to ensure that Ukrainian grain was exported… I met with the leaders of the African Union, with the leaders of African countries, and promised them that we would do everything to ensure their interests and facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain. We did this with Turkey. If we exclude Turkey as an intermediary country, then practically all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing poorest countries but to EU countries.”
“Once again, they simply deceived developing countries and continue to deceive them. With this approach, the scale of food (supply) issues in the world will only increase, unfortunately. To our great regret, this can lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
ON GAS
“First of all, our energy resources should be directed towards the development of our own country. This also applies to all primary energy sources and mineral resources. But we have so many of them that we are ready to meet the growing needs of everyone who wants to work with us… Having received natural gas from Russia for decades, the economies of Europe’s leading countries had obvious competitive advantages on a global scale. If they think they do not need such advantages, this does not bother at all because the demand for energy resources in the world is very high.”
ON PROPOSAL TO CAP GAS PRICES
“This is another (example of) stupidity. This is another non-market solution that has no prospects. All administrative restrictions in global trade only lead to imbalances and higher prices. What is happening in European markets is the result of the work of European specialists and the European Commission. We have always insisted that prices muar be formed based on long-term contracts and be tied to a market category such as prices for oil and oil products.”
ON NORD STREAM 1 AND NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINES
“Nord Steam 1 is practically closed now. There is an oil leak there – it’s a possibly explosive situation, a fire hazard. The turbine cannot work. Give us a turbine and we will turn on Nord Stream 1 tomorrow. But they don’t give us anything.”
“In Germany we are seeing demonstrations demanding that Nord Stream 2 be launched. We share the demands made by German consumers. We are ready to do it tomorrow, all you have to do is press a button. Well, we didn’t impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2. They did it under pressure from the Americans.”
ON GRAIN EXPORTS FROM UKRAINE
“Despite all the difficulties taking place around the events in Ukraine, we did everything to ensure that Ukrainian grain was exported… I met with the leaders of the African Union, with the leaders of African countries, and promised them that we would do everything to ensure their interests and facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain. We did this with Turkey. If we exclude Turkey as an intermediary country, then practically all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing poorest countries but to EU countries.”
“Once again, they simply deceived developing countries and continue to deceive them. With this approach, the scale of food (supply) issues in the world will only increase, unfortunately. To our great regret, this can lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
ON THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
“Russia is facing economic, financial and technological aggression from the West. There is no other way to describe it. Russia’s foreign exchange and financial markets have stabilized, inflation is declining. The unemployment rate is at a historic low, less than 4%. Forecasts and assessments of the economy, including by entrepreneurs, are now much more optimistic than they were at the beginning of spring. The economic situation has stabilized in general. However, we are of course seeing issues in a number of industries and regions, at some enterprises in the country, especially those involved with exports to Europe or that supplied their products there.”
ON NEW BRITISH PRIME MINISTER LIZ TRUSS
“In the UK, the procedure for electing the (leader) is far from (abiding by) democratic principles. It takes place within the framework of the party that won the previous parliamentary elections. The people of Great Britain don’t take part, in this instance, in the change of government. The ruling elites there have their arrangements. We know the Tories’ (Conservatives’) position on these questions, including on relations with Russia. It’s their business how to build relations with the Russian Federation. Our business is to defend our own interests and we will do that consistently, let no one be in any doubt about that.”
