Putin’s speech at the St Petersburg Economic Forum was postponed on Friday. There was a cyberattack on the admission system, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The speech planned for 1 pm CEST has been postponed by one hour. There was a so-called “denial of service” attack on the accreditation system, as announced by the Kremlin. In this type of hacking attack, a server is bombarded with so many requests that the system can no longer handle the tasks.
On Friday, the Russian president wants to explain how the sanctions that the West has imposed over the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine should continue. “The anniversary meeting is taking place at a difficult time for the world community,” Putin said. The West sees the 69-year-old as responsible for countless crises and high energy and food prices.
“West responsible for inflation”
The Russian ruler is verbally attacking the West on a massive scale. The US is acting as if it was sent to earth by God with sacred interests, Putin told the St Petersburg economic forum on Friday. “Our Western colleagues still think in terms of the last century, they treat other countries as colonies,” Putin said, stressing that nothing in international politics will ever be the same.
The West blames Putin for crises and high prices for energy and food. Unsurprisingly, the Kremlin chief sees things differently: “Years of mistakes by Western countries in economic policy and illegal sanctions have led to a wave of global inflation, the destruction of customary supply and production chains, and a sharp increase in poverty and deficits. groceries.”
Putin has repeatedly made it clear that Russia will not be impressed by EU and US sanctions. At the same time, he said the situation offers new perspectives. Under the slogan “New World – New Opportunities” representatives from more than 100 countries are expected in St. Petersburg. In the face of enormous tensions with the West, Russia is increasingly orienting itself economically towards Asia, above all towards China and India, but also towards Africa and South America.
Ruble stronger than in a long time
Russia, for example, is increasingly diverting its oil and gas supplies from the EU to other regions of the world. Currently, the country is generating particularly high revenues due to high oil and gas prices on the world market. The national currency also rebounded significantly nearly four months ago after losing value against the dollar and euro at the start of the war. The ruble is now stronger than it has been for years.
Western companies have migrated
Because of the sanctions, several Western companies, including German companies, have left Russia. Putin explained that other companies filled in the gaps. For example, after the departure of the North American chain McDonald’s, new hamburgers were opened in the branches with the name Wkusno i Totschka – German: delicious and period. In Moscow, queues form in bars for days.
Despite extensive sanctions imposed by the West, representatives of the Russian leadership no longer viewed the development of the economy and inflation in their own country in such a gloomy light. There are reasons for “certain optimism”, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reschetnikov told the economic forum. “The first quarter results and preliminary estimates for April and May show that things are improving” than previously expected in the forecasts. Inflation will be “significantly” lower through the end of the year than the last forecast of 17.5 percent, Reshetnikov said. He also said that limiting the decline in gross domestic product (GDP) to five to six percent is “absolutely achievable.” In May, the ministry had put the expected drop in GDP at 7.8%.
Also US participants in meetings
The organizers of the economic forum speak of participants from 115 countries this year. In the record year 2020, there were 19,000 participants from 145 countries. A number of participants were not mentioned this time. Entrepreneurs have the opportunity this year to participate anonymously in the forum to avoid being penalized as part of the Western sanctions policy. According to the media, participants from France, Italy, Canada and the USA are also registered.
This year’s guests of honor include President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of the authoritarian former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, the Taliban of Afghanistan and the separatist leaders of the “People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk” recognized by Russia and persecuted as terrorists by Ukraine. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has been criticized for human rights violations, is to be connected via video. Putin will also meet with representatives of Russian media, including war reporters.
The pro-Russian separatist leader in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, has called for the Russian army to conquer all of Ukraine. Pushilin told Russian news agency Tass at the St Petersburg economic forum on Friday that all of Ukraine, including the “Russian city of Kyiv and western Ukraine”, should be “liberated”. Therefore, this “heavy responsibility would not be passed on to the next generation,” Puschilin added.
Putin: Ukrainian grain supplies to the world market “insignificant”
According to Putin, Russia is not getting in the way of grain deliveries from Ukraine. “We don’t mine the ports,” said the Russian president. If Kyiv decides to clear the mines, Moscow will guarantee the safety of exports, Putin said.
Will Russia End the Grain Blockade?
However, according to the Russian president, deliveries of Ukrainian grain are insignificant for the world market. That’s about five to six million tons of wheat and about the same amount of corn. This is irrelevant to the world market, Putin said. Western sanctions against Russia would have a much bigger impact on rising food prices. Fertilizer exports, in particular, put future crops at risk and therefore continue to drive up prices, he warned.
Furthermore, Putin accused the US and Europe of increasing food imports and thus fueling competition for coveted foods on world markets. This started long before the war in Ukraine, which Putin called “a special military operation in Donbass”. Food inflation is therefore unrelated to the Russian attack, the 69-year-old said.