Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Wednesday that it is impossible for Western countries to isolate Russia despite sanctions against Moscow, which pose a “threat to the whole world.”
“As much as some would like to isolate Russia, it is impossible to do so,” Putin told an Asia-focused economic forum in Vladivostok, a city in Russia’s Far East.
The Covid-19 pandemic “has been replaced by new global challenges, which threaten the whole world. I am referring to the fever of Western sanctions,” Putin added.
The Russian president denounced “the stubborn refusal of Western elites to see the facts” and “the cunning domination of the United States” in the application of harsh sanctions against Russia, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“Irreversible changes have taken place in the entire system of international relations,” he said.
Despite a series of Western sanctions, Putin said Russia “has not lost anything and will not lose anything.” “There is some polarization taking place, but I think it will only be beneficial,” he added.
In front of many Asian, particularly Chinese, economic and political leaders, Putin also praised the “growing role” of the Asia-Pacific region in world affairs, in contrast to a West he described as in decline, hampered in particular by “inflation”. “.
“The role of countries in the Asia-Pacific region has grown significantly,” he said.
Faced with “the technological, financial and economic aggression of the West”, the Russian president was satisfied with the “little distance” of the Russian economy from the dollar, the euro and the pound sterling, “unreliable currencies”. in favor of the Chinese yuan.
On Tuesday, Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom announced that China would pay for its contracts in rubles and yuan instead of dollars, a new sign of rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with the West.
“The absolute majority of Asia-Pacific states do not accept the destructive logic of sanctions,” Putin said again.
“A creative partnership will open huge new opportunities for our people,” Putin said in his speech.
Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on September 15 and 16 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for a regional summit, Russian diplomacy announced today, within the framework of the Chinese head of state’s trip abroad since the beginning. of the pandemic.
“In less than 10 days, a new meeting of our leaders (Vladimir Putin and Xi) will take place at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO),” announced the Russian ambassador in Beijing, Andrei Denisov, quoted by news agencies. russians Ria Novosti and Tass.
Source: TSF
