Addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a landmark event being held this year with almost zero Western attendance, he told Russia’s political and economic elite:
“We are a strong people and can face any challenge. Like our ancestors, we will solve all problems, the whole millennial history of our country testifies to it.”
Putin drew applause from the audience when he reaffirmed his determination to continue the “special military operation” in Ukraine that triggered what he called an “unprecedented” barrage of Western economic sanctions.
He said the main purpose of the incursion was to defend “our” people in the Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine – a justification that kyiv and the West reject as a baseless pretext for a war that has already led to the occupation of parts of southern Ukraine well beyond Donbas.
Putin said Russian soldiers in the Donbas were also fighting to defend Russia’s own “rights to safe development”.
“The West basically refused to fulfill its previous obligations, it simply proved impossible to conclude new agreements with it,” Putin said.
“In the current situation, against the background of increasing risks for us and threats, Russia’s decision to carry out a special military operation was forceful – difficult, of course, but forceful and necessary.”
Mr Putin said the United States considered itself “God’s emissary on Earth”, and that Western sanctions were based on a false premise that Russia had no economic sovereignty.
Washington and its allies were trying to “change the course of history”, he said, to weaken a sovereign and independent Russia.
Shortly before Putin began speaking, the Kremlin announced that a “denial of service” cyberattack had disabled the conference’s accreditation and admissions systems, forcing it to delay its scheduled start by an hour. of his speech.