Key Takeaways From President Putin's Speech at Eastern Economic Forum
13:43 GMT, 5 September 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the plenary session of the 9th Eastern Economic Forum held at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.
SputnikThe Far East has become Russia's stronghold in the new global economic reality, Vladimir Putin underscored in his speech at the plenary session of the
Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
The Russian president used the EEF platform on Thursday to touch upon a broad range of important global and domestic issues, clarifying his country's stance.
Ukraine Conflict
Russia has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine, but the
West sabotaged a potential peace deal in early 2022, the Russian leader said at the EEF plenary session, referring to a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul in March 2022.
“We had practically achieved all the parameters of a possible peace agreement with representatives of the government in Kiev... But then Mr. [Boris] Johnson [then-UK prime minister] arrived and instructed the Ukrainians to fight to the last Ukrainian. Which is what we see today in an attempt to achieve Russia's strategic defeat. But that's not happening," Putin stated.
Putin said that Russia respects and welcomes the sincere interest of its friends and partners in resolving all issues related to the Ukraine conflict, “first of all, the People's Republic of China, Brazil, and India.”
The Russian Armed Forces must expel the enemy from the country's territory, with the
liberation of Donbass being a top priority, he underscored. Russia will always protect its interests and the interests of people in Ukraine who are prepared to defend their right to speak the Russian language and respect their national traditions, Putin said.
Regarding the developments in Russia’s border region in Kursk, which witnessed
an incursion by Kiev’s military on August 6, the president said Russian troops have accelerated their offensive operations, making significant gains, while the enemy is weakening in key areas.
"First of all, we must think about the people who, of course, are going through serious hardships and suffering from these terrorist attacks [by Ukraine]. The sacred duty of the armed forces is to do everything to kick the enemy out of these territories and reliably protect our citizens. The whole country, of course, should do everything to support people," Putin said.
The Russian leader also decried
Ukraine’s strikes on nuclear power plants as “
very dangerous terrorist attacks.” He proceeded to warn that “
one can only imagine” what could happen if Russia were to respond reciprocally to the shelling of the Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear plants.
While underscoring that the Russian Armed Forces are pushing the enemy out of Russia's border region, Putin pointed to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime’s heavy losses in equipment and manpower. The Russian head of state also shared his personal impression that Ukraine was being led by “aliens or foreigners” who do not care about the fate of their own country.
“I don't know what they will be doing in the future. It is necessary now for them to bring down the age bracket for drafting people […] The next step will be to draft students, and it will bleed the country,” Vladimir Putin said.
Saudi Role in Prisoner Swap
The Russian president thanked Saudi Arabia's crown prince for his assistance in the exchange of Russian citizens that took place last month.
"At the first stage, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia took an active part in this work, for which we are also grateful to him, since this eventually led to the return of our citizens to their homeland," Putin said.
Many other countries in the Arab world also played a role in work on the prisoner exchange, Putin added.
"In the end, in the interests of all those involved in this process, we achieved the ultimate positive result, the most important of which is the return of our citizens to their homeland, including those who carried out special missions for the homeland abroad," the president said.
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Russia backs
a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, the Russian president underscored.
"Russia's stance is not one of opportunism; rather, it is grounded in longstanding decisions that, in my view, should serve as the foundation for a resolution — specifically, the establishment of two states," the Russian president said at the Eastern Economic Forum.
Putin noted that "this stance is shared by many people in the world and, as strange as it may seem, by the United States as well." He went on to note that the issue has not been resolved and is "at the core of today's escalation of the situation, present-day confrontation."
The Russian president also clarified that:
Moscow is committed to doing everything within its power to address the deep-rooted and protracted crisis in the Middle East.
The US cannot be considered neutral in the Gaza conflict, and this lack of neutrality poses significant challenges.
Russia has made progress in facilitating the release of hostages held by Hamas and intends to continue these efforts.
US Elections
While reiterating that it is not up to Russia to pick a favorite candidate in the
ongoing US presidential race, Vladimir Putin allowed himself to briefly troll the Democratic Party.
“I once said that if we can name a favorite candidate, it would be Joe Biden, but now he's not participating in the election campaign. He recommended supporting [Kamala] Harris. So, that is what we are going to do… Her laugh is so fascinating. It means that everything is good,” Russia’s head of state said at the EEF plenary session.
Russia’s Future Linked with Far East Growth
As global business ties and trade routes increasingly shift to the East and Global South, the future development of Russia largely depends on how the Far East will develop, Vladimir Putin emphasized during his speech at the plenary session. He referred to Russia's Far East region as a gateway to the promising and developing markets of Asia and the Global South.
Putin hailed the region’s vast potential for increased geological exploration and linked it to the need to ensure Russia’s resource sovereignty.
“We need to ensure the resource sovereignty of the country. We need to provide an uninterrupted supply of commodities and raw materials for our economy, for our settlements, providing them with fuel and commodities. We need to use the most efficient Russian technologies and scientific discoveries in environment and management of natural resources,” the Russian leader said.
As Putin invited other countries to join in developing the region’s transportation routes, he singled out the key importance of the
Northern Sea Route’s boosted capacity,
"In particular, this refers to the Northern Sea Route as an international logistics route. We are going to boost its throughput capacity, in particular by exploring the Arctic mineral deposits, reorienting cargos and increasing the transit. We have ambitious plans for developing the Northern Sea Route,” the Russian leader said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.
Putin touched upon plans for a new deep-water port with the participation of Belarusian and Chinese companies, as well as proposed building nuclear power plants in the Russian Far East. The successful implementation of all these ambitious plans and the entire economy of the future depend first of all on people, the Russian head of state noted at the EEF’s plenary session.
Vladimir Putin took a moment to take pride in the impressive growth of the Russian economy despite the West's weaponized sanctions. He noted that Russia's growth rates exceed the global average.
On the matter of Russian energy supplies, Putin emphasized that attempts to shut them down would backfire tremendously on the global economy.
"Whoever might try shutting down our energy and however they might do it, this would be impossible, because production is at its limit, driven by global demand. It is simply impossible. To just shut down everything tomorrow — our gas, oil — the global economy would not withstand such a shutdown," Putin said.
Putin noted that Russia will solve its problems even if a country refuses to accept Russian energy resources. Specifically mentioning Iran as having long been asking for Russian gas, President Putin suggested that could be a feasible project.
While dwelling on the economy and trade routes being reoriented to the Global South, Putin touched upon the growing global de-dollarization trend, saying that Russia has never refused to conduct financial transactions in dollars, but has had to use other currencies in its trade exchanges after that option was denied.
"We are not pursuing a policy of de-dollarization. We did not, in fact, refuse to settle in dollars, we were refused settlements, and we were simply forced to look for other options," Putin said.