7 September 2022
image source, Tass via Archyde.com
The Russian leader said that Western currencies were falling while Russia was not losing anything.
Vladimir Putin has condemned the Western sanctions imposed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, assuring that they represent a threat to the entire world.
In a speech to an economic forum in Vladivostok, he said Russia was dealing with economic “aggression” from the West, and warned that the quality of life for Europeans was being sacrificed by sanctions, while poorer countries were losing the access to food.
He also said that Europe was scamming poor countries that do not have access to grain produced by Ukraine.
Although Russian forces blocked Ukraine’s seaports for months, exports resumed in early August and, according to the Russian leader, only two grain ships had reached Africa since then, which is not true.
The president also said that he wanted to discuss the review of the agreement that allows the export of these grains.
Russia launched its invasion on February 24 and now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory. Russian troops have been pushed out of areas around Kyiv and the country’s north and now face a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south and east.
Western nations responded to the invasion by imposing sanctions on a large number of Russian individuals, businesses and state-owned companies. The European Union has sought to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, and Moscow has shut down its key gas pipeline, the Nord Stream 1, Germany, arguing technical problems.
image source, Getty Images
Energy prices have skyrocketed and EU ministers will meet next Friday to respond to the crisis. The Russian leader called a proposal to put a cap on Russian gas prices “stupid.”
Putin said on Wednesday that the West was trying to impose his behavior on other countries. Many companies had rushed out of Russia, he said, but “now we are seeing how production and jobs in Europe are closing one after another.”
However, Russia is also feeling the pinch of the sanctions, with inflation rising and companies struggling to import much-needed parts.
international tension
The EU has already banned direct flights from Russia and last week its 27 member states further angered Moscow by agreeing to make the process of obtaining a visa more complicated for Russians.
The highly regarded Schengen visa, which covers 22 EU countries, is also likely to become more expensive. The three Baltic states have now gone further with an agreement to ban Russians from crossing from Russia and Belarus, unless they are truck drivers or have family and humanitarian reasons.
In a speech that seemed to target both Western observers and a domestic audience, President Putin said that confidence in the dollar, euro and pound was being lost in the eyes of the people. Russia, for its part, came out of the war with its sovereignty strengthened: “I am sure that we have not lost anything and we will not lose anything.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia was seeking blackmail Europe with its energy resources: “Putin wants to ruin the stability and well-being of all households in Europe.”
Chinese lawmaker Li Zhanshu was attending the forum where Putin was speaking when the Russian president said: “No matter how much someone would like to isolate Russia, it is impossible to achieve it.”
Russian news agencies said that President Putin will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan next week.
Until a UN-sponsored deal was reached a few months ago to lift Russia’s blockade of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, grain exports had dwindled to a crawl.
image source, Getty Images
The Kubrosli ship is loaded with Ukrainian wheat at the port of Odessa in southern Ukraine.
Shipments have gradually resumed and a UN-chartered ship carrying 23,000 tonnes arrived in Djibouti last week. The grain has already arrived in Ethiopia in 60 trucks, with the aim of feeding more than one and a half million people in a country ravaged by drought and civil war.
Other ships left for Yemen and Sudan, while others headed for ports in Egypt.
Under the agreement, all shipments are approved by a joint center in Turkey. The center says that so far two million tons have been authorized of grains, even destined for Turkey and the Middle East, as well as ports in the EU.
But President Putin accused European countries of continue to act as colonialists and said that he would propose to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to restrict the destinations of Ukrainian exports.
“Not counting Turkey as a mediating country, practically all the grain that is taken out of Ukraine goes not to the poorest and developing countries, but to countries of the European Union,” argued the Russian leader.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser accused him of making unsubstantiated remarks, telling the Archyde.com news agency that the Russian leader was seeking to influence public opinion around the world and put pressure on the UN.
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