Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States was acting as if “sent by God to Earth with its sacred interests” in a combative speech delivered Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He swore that nothing would be the same as before in global politics and accused the US of treating other countries as “colonies”.
He rejected attempts by the West to crush his country with “stupid” sanctions that led to an economic “lightning war”.
Putin’s reference to World War II is a blitzkrieg: a quick and intense military attack that takes the enemy by surprise and the tactics behind Germany’s success at the time.
He said that the gloomy forecasts for the Russian economy and the attempts to hit it with sanctions had not been fulfilled.
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There were fears that the Russian ruble would rise to $ 200 per dollar, but Putin dismissed it as a form of “information battle.”
Amid a lengthy denunciation of the United States and its allies, the Russian leader said the West had tried to isolate or cancel the “wrong” states.
He received applause from the courtroom when he reaffirmed his determination to continue the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
He said the main purpose of the raid was to defend “our” people in the Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a justification that Kyiv and the West dismiss as an unfounded pretext for war.
The Russian showcase event is being held this year with almost no Western participation.
His speech came just hours after the European Commission announced that it had proposed Ukraine as a member of the European Union.
In response, Putin accused the organization of losing its political sovereignty and said the EU could lose more than $ 400 billion (£ 27 billion) due to its sanctions against Russia.
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0:39 Ukraine one step closer to EU membership
Russia faces imminent recession
He said some world currencies were “committing suicide” in reference to the unprecedented $ 300 billion (245 billion pound) freeze on Russia’s foreign exchange reserves.
In response to the sanctions, he called on Russian companies to increase their domestic investment to help achieve the country’s “giant potential”.
Russia is facing an impending recession that will be the deepest contraction in the country in at least two decades.
Meanwhile, the head of the UK armed forces said that Russia has “strategically lost” the war in Ukraine and is a “smaller power”.
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Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Vladimir Putin had used 25% of the Russian army only to make “small” gains.
And while Russia may achieve “tactical successes” in the coming weeks, it said any idea that the war would have been a success was “nonsense.”