(Saint-Petersburg) Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Friday that the Russian offensive in Ukraine had no influence on the world economic difficulties, in particular the rise in energy prices, stigmatizing the “systemic errors” of the West.
Posted at 12:30 p.m.
“We all hear about a so-called ‘Putin inflation’ […] Our actions to liberate the Donbass have nothing to do with that,” he said during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.
“It is the result of the systemic errors of the American administration and the European bureaucracy […] For them, our operation is a lifeline that allows them to put everything on our backs,” continued the Russian president, criticizing the “erroneous economic policy” of Western countries.
“They printed, distributed money and raked all the goods from third country markets for that money,” he continued.
The United States and European countries are facing galloping inflation which reached up to 11% over one year in the United Kingdom, driven in particular by the rise in fuel prices. Russia is not to be outdone, with a price increase of 16.7% over one year.
Gas prices continued to soar on Friday, galvanized by the Russian giant Gazprom which continues to lower its deliveries to Europe in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Moscow.
In the same speech, he once again denounced the “crazy and senseless” sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, believing that the Europeans are suffering more than Moscow and that the Russian economy is reacting very well.
“We have suppressed the surge of inflation […] The economic situation is stabilizing, state finances are robust,” said Putin, assuring that for the first five months of the year, the federal state budget, driven by energy prices , “is in surplus by 1,500 billion rubles” ($340 million).
“Our task today is to create the prerequisites for the flourishing of industry, to support demand in the domestic market,” added the Russian President.
He also repeated that his country and its army did not prevent Ukraine from exporting its grain abroad, assuring that Kyiv had many options and that “it was not us who mined the ports of the Black Sea”.
Ukraine mined its coast to protect itself from a military landing by Russia, which attacked it on February 24.
The UN has been negotiating for several weeks with Moscow, Kyiv and Ankara, military guarantors of the use of the Black Sea for civilian ships, an agreement that would allow millions of tonnes of blocked Ukrainian cereals to leave the country in safety.
If an agreement were reached, it would bring down food prices and alleviate fears of a food crisis in the world.
“The situation on world food markets is deteriorating, but it is not our fault at all,” Putin insisted.
“We would not like people somewhere, in a few countries to suffer from famine,” he said.
The Russian president also said he was confident about the return to Russia of Western companies, especially European ones, which slammed the door due to the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“I have no doubt that over time many of our partners from European countries will return to the Russian market. And we will not put obstacles in their way. We are open to the whole world,” he said.