“Tough US Domination”
Vladimir Putin spoke at the Eastern Economic Forum. He blamed the United States for the crisis stemming from the sanctions against Russia.
“The epidemic has left its place to other challenges that are also of a global nature and threaten the whole world. I mean, the West’s fire of sanctions, undisguised, aggressive attempts to impose patterns of behavior on other countries, to deprive them of their sovereignty and subjugate them to their will. “Strictly speaking, there is nothing unusual in this, it is a policy pursued by the “collective West” for decades,” said Putin.
According to him, “the catalyst for these processes was the elusive US dominance of the global economy and politics” and “the stubborn reluctance, or even inability, of the Western elite to see and recognize objective facts.” He noted that the role of the “dynamic and promising” states of the Asia-Pacific region is growing.
At the same time, the head of state believes that Western countries are trying to “preserve the old world order that is beneficial only to them, to force everyone to live by the notorious “rules” that they themselves violate. According to him, this is contrary to the interests of citizens of Western states.
“The level of industrial development achieved in Europe, the quality of life of people, socio-economic stability – all this is thrown into the furnace of sanctions, spent on orders from Washington in the name of the notorious Euro-Atlantic union. “And it is actually being sacrificed for the sake of maintaining the US dictatorship in world affairs,” said Putin.
He added that in the spring, many foreign companies raced to announce their withdrawal from Russia, adding that “he believes that from this the Russian Federation will suffer more than others.” But in fact, “production and employment in Europe are being shut down one by one.” The president said this was due to “the cutting of trade ties with Russia.”
“Dangerous” currencies
Putin also said that “trust in the dollar, euro and sterling” was lost. He described the currencies themselves as “unreliable” and “self-compromising”. Therefore, Gazprom and its Chinese partners decided to switch to rubles and yuan by fifty-fifty when paying for gas supplies.
“The short-sighted actions of Western officials have spurred global inflation: it has already updated long-term records in advanced economies. <...> As a result of July, inflation in the USA was 8.5 percent. Now we have somewhere around 14. But unlike Western economies (in Russia – “socialbites.ca”) the trend, <...> I think we will have a place around 12 percent according to the results of the year. So what happens to our neighbors? In Germany – 7.9 today, in Belgium – 9.9, in the Netherlands – 12, in Latvia – 20.8 percent, in Lithuania – 21.1, in Estonia – 25.2, ”Putin quoted the data.
Breakdown of the food deal
He believes rising prices in global markets could be “a real tragedy for many of the poorest countries facing shortages of food, energy and other vital goods.”
According to Putin, the food deal was signed in Istanbul to “provide the export of Ukrainian grain at all costs to support the poorest countries”. But in fact, almost all of the grain was sent to the European Union, not to the needy countries.
“As part of the UN World Food Programme, which means helping the countries most in need, I underline that while only two of the 87 ships were loaded, 60,000 tons of food out of two million tons were transported on these ships. “That’s just three percent of those sent to developing countries,” he said.
He is also confident that “with this approach” the world’s food problems will increase, and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” may begin.
“Perhaps we should consider limiting exports of grains and other foodstuffs along this route. “I will definitely consult with Turkish President Erdogan on this matter, because he and I have developed a mechanism to help the poorest countries, first and foremost, to export Ukrainian grain,” he said.
Friendship with Asia-Pacific countries
Putin said that despite the “aggression” of the West, the foreign exchange and financial market in Russia has stabilized. According to him, the unemployment rate in the country is “a historic low – less than four percent.” At the same time, the president acknowledged that there were “problems in a number of industries and regions, individual businesses in the country, particularly those that source from or source their products from Europe.”
“Russia is a sovereign state. We will always protect our national interests by pursuing an independent policy, and we value the same qualities in our partners who have demonstrated reliability and responsibility for many years in trade, investment and other cooperation. Of course, I mean our colleagues in countries in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
He noted that most Asia-Pacific countries do not accept the “destructive logic of sanctions”. The growth of the Far East economy of the Russian Federation, as well as the economies of the Asia-Pacific Region, is important for Russia.
prosperous Far East
According to Putin, over the past seven years, “the volume of industrial production in the Far East has increased by about a quarter, which is a third higher than in the whole country.” “Our country’s tax, administrative and customs preferences have been tested”, where important projects have been implemented in the region, especially in areas such as gas chemistry and shipbuilding, biotechnology and clean energy. .
“Russia is perhaps the only country in the world that can fully provide natural resources, and the Far East plays an important role here. “Oil and natural gas, coal, metals, timber, aquatic biological resources – for all these positions, the region is the most important supplier to both the domestic market and our foreign partners.”
He added that the impossibility of isolating Russia is confirmed by the fact that the total cargo turnover of Russian ports has practically not decreased for seven months of this year, remaining at the same level as the previous year. It reached 482 million tons of cargo in 2022 and 483 in 2021.
“At the same time, there is now a real logistics boom here in the Far Eastern ports. Cargo transportation, container handling volumes are such that experts work on weekends, day and night without interruption,” said the Russian leader, adding that Russia aims to develop the eastern direction of transportation infrastructure and enter the markets of Iran, India, the Middle East and Africa.
“We didn’t start anything”
Putin said that after the start of military special operations in Ukraine, Russia did not lose anything, but strengthened its sovereignty.
“I’m sure we haven’t lost anything (with the launch of socialbites.ca special operations in Ukraine) and we won’t lose anything. “The main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty, and that is the inevitable consequence of what is happening now.”
According to him, there is “a certain polarization” regarding Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but “it will only benefit” as the Russian Federation will “reject” this “unnecessary, temporary” and “everything” that hinders “progress”. .
Putin is also confident that Russia has not started hostilities in Ukraine.
“We did not start anything in terms of military operations, we are trying to finish it. Those who do not want normal peaceful development and try to suppress their own people began hostilities in Ukraine after the coup in 2014, ”says the head of state.
He noted that Russia is obliged to help defend the DPR and LPR, because it is included in agreements with these republics.
“Tomorrow we will open Nord Stream 1”
Putin said that Russia is ready to resume work on Nord Stream 1 tomorrow, but only if the repaired turbine is returned to it.
“Give us a turbine, we’ll open Nord Stream 1 tomorrow.” They don’t give anything. They say: here they use it as a weapon. What weapon? Another nonsense and nonsense. What weapon are we using? We supply as much as our partners need: the more they order, the more we fulfill. We deliver on demand, not somewhere in the air. The application has been made, we are fulfilling it,” he said.
According to the president, European countries “have done something themselves, now they do not know what to do with it, they have dragged themselves into the so-called sanctions stalemate.”
“We see it in Germany, now there are demonstrations demanding the inclusion of Nord Stream 2,” the head of state said, noting that gas from Russia is cheaper for Europe.
He also described attempts to limit the prices of Russian energy supplies as nonsense and nonsense.
“Faced with what is happening right now, they are thinking about how to get out of it, limiting the price with administrative decisions. Another nonsense, nonsense, which will lead to further growth in world markets, including in Europe. “In the field of economy and world trade, nothing can be resolved by administrative means,” said Putin.
Source: Gazeta
