Putin Today.

"Dear friends!

As I have already said, the modern world is going through an era of cardinal changes. International institutions break down and fail. Security guarantees are devalued. The West has fundamentally refused to fulfill its earlier obligations. It was simply impossible to reach any new agreements with him.

In the current situation, against the backdrop of growing risks and threats for us, Russia's decision to conduct a special military operation was forced. Difficult, certainly, but forced and necessary.

This is the decision of a sovereign country, which has an unconditional right, based, by the way, on the UN Charter, to defend its security. A decision aimed at protecting our citizens, residents of the people's republics of Donbass, who for eight years were subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazis who received the full protection of the West.

Vladimir Putin

?

…“ the principle of our long-term development is the reliance on entrepreneurial freedoms. Each private initiative aimed at the benefit of Russia should receive maximum support and space for implementation.”

Vladimir Putin delivered a brilliant speech today at the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, in my opinion.

The main thing that I heard and may be of interest to my international community, see below.

Enjoy ! :)

“I welcome the participants and guests of the jubilee XXV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

It takes place at a difficult time for the entire world community, when the economy, markets and the very principles of the global economic system are under attack. Many trade, production, and logistics ties that were previously disrupted by the pandemic are now going through new tests. Moreover, such key concepts for business as business reputation, inviolability of property and trust in world currencies have been thoroughly undermined - undermined, unfortunately, by our partners in the West, and this was done intentionally, for the sake of ambition, in the name of preserving outdated geopolitical illusions.

Today I will present our – when I say “our”, I mean the Russian leadership – my view on the situation in which the global economy finds itself. I will dwell in detail on how Russia is acting in these conditions and how it is planning its development in a dynamically changing environment.

A year and a half ago, speaking at the Davos forum, I once again emphasized that the era of the unipolar world order is over – I want to start with this, there is no getting away from it – it has ended, despite all attempts to preserve it, to conserve it by any means. Changes are a natural course of history, since the civilizational diversity of the planet, the richness of cultures is difficult to combine with political, economic and other patterns, patterns do not work here, patterns that are rudely, without alternative, imposed from one center.

The flaw lies in the very idea, according to which there is one, albeit a strong power with a limited circle of approximate or, as they say, states admitted to it, and all the rules of business and international relations, when necessary, are interpreted solely in the interests of this power , as they say, work in one direction, the game goes in one direction. A world based on such dogmas is definitely unsustainable.

The United States, having declared victory in the Cold War, declared itself to be the messengers of the Lord on earth, who have no obligations, but only interests, and these interests are declared sacred. They do not seem to notice that over the past decades, new powerful centers have been formed on the planet and are louder and louder. Each of them develops its own political systems and public institutions, implements its own models of economic growth and, of course, has the right to protect them, to ensure national sovereignty.

We are talking about objective processes, about truly revolutionary, tectonic changes in geopolitics, the global economy, in the technological sphere, in the entire system of international relations, where the role of dynamic, promising states and regions is significantly increasing, whose interests can no longer be ignored.

I repeat: these changes are fundamental, pivotal and inexorable. And it is a mistake to believe that the time of turbulent changes can, as they say, sit out, wait out, that supposedly everything will return to normal, everything will be as before. Will not.

However, it seems that the ruling elites of some Western states are just in such illusions. They do not want to notice obvious things, but stubbornly cling to the shadows of the past. For example, they believe that the dominance of the West in global politics and economics is an unchanging, eternal value. Nothing is eternal.

Moreover, our colleagues do not simply deny reality. They are trying to counteract the course of history. They think in terms of the last century. They are in captivity of their own delusions about countries outside the so-called golden billion, they consider everything else to be the periphery, their backyard, they still treat them like a colony, and the peoples living there consider them second-class people, because they themselves consider themselves exceptional. If they are exceptional, then everyone else is second-class.

Hence the irrepressible desire to punish, to crush economically those who stand out from the general ranks, do not want to blindly obey. Moreover, they rudely and shamelessly impose their own ethics, views on culture and ideas about history, and sometimes question the sovereignty and integrity of states, create a threat to their existence. Suffice it to recall the fate of Yugoslavia and Syria, Libya and Iraq.

If some rebel cannot be hounded, pacified, then they try to isolate him or, as they say now, “cancel”. Everything is used, even sports, the Olympic movement, a ban on culture, masterpieces of art - for the sole reason that their authors are of “wrong” origin.

This is the nature of the current attack of Russophobia in the West and insane sanctions against Russia. Crazy and, I would say, thoughtless. Their number, as well as the speed of stamping, knows no precedents.

The calculation was clear: impudently, with a swoop, crush the Russian economy, due to the destruction of business chains, the forced recall of Western companies from the Russian market, the freezing of domestic assets, to hit industry, finance, and the standard of living of people.

Did not work out. Obviously, it did not work out, did not take place. Russian entrepreneurs and authorities worked in a focused and professional manner, citizens showed solidarity and responsibility.

We are gradually normalizing the economic situation. First, we stabilized the financial markets, the banking system and the trading network. Then they began to saturate the economy with liquidity and working capital to maintain the stability of enterprises and companies, employment and jobs.

…. Life has refuted such predictions. However, I would like to emphasize and would like to note that in order to continue to achieve success, we must assess the situation as honestly and realistically as possible, at the same time be independent in our conclusions and, of course, believe in our own strength - this is very important. We are strong people and we can handle any challenge. Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem. This is evidenced by the entire thousand-year history of our country.

The question is: what does our military operation in the Donbass have to do with it? It has nothing to do with it at all.

Without inventing or not wishing to use other recipes, the authorities of the leading Western economies simply launched the printing press. In such a simple way they began to cover previously unprecedented budget deficits.

I have already mentioned this figure: over the past two years, the money supply in the United States has grown by more than 38 percent. Previously, there was such an increase for decades, but here in two years 38 percent is 5.9 trillion dollars. By comparison, only a few countries in the world have a larger gross domestic product.

The money supply of the European Union, in turn, also increased sharply during this period. Its volume increased by about 20 percent, or 2.5 trillion euros.

Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more about the so-called – if you’ll excuse me, I don’t like to study here, and I don’t like to mention myself in any way, but I can’t help but say – we all hear about the so-called Putin’s inflation in the West. When I see this, I always think: who is this stupidity designed for - those who cannot read and write, that's all. People who can at least read understand what is really going on.

Russia, our actions to liberate Donbass have absolutely nothing to do with it. Today's rise in prices, inflation, problems with food and fuel, gasoline, in the energy sector as a whole are the result of systemic mistakes in the economic policy of the current US administration and the European bureaucracy. Here are the reasons, and only in this.

I will also say about our operation: yes, it had some significance, but the root is precisely in this - in their erroneous economic policy. For them, the beginning of our operation in the Donbass is a lifeline that allows them to blame their own miscalculations on others, in this case, on Russia. But everyone who has at least a primary school education understands the true reasons for the current situation.

They printed money in huge quantities, and then what? Where did all these funds go? Obviously: including the purchase of goods and services outside Western countries - that's where they flowed, this money is printed. They literally began to "vacuum", to rake out the global markets. Of course, no one thought about the interests of other states, including the poorest ones, and did not want to think about it. They were left only what is called, as our people say, lumps, and even at astronomical prices.

So, if at the end of 2019 imports, imports of goods to the United States amounted to about $250 billion a month, by now it has grown to $350 billion. It is noteworthy that the growth amounted to 40 percent - in proportion, this exactly corresponds to the unsecured pumping of the dollar money supply in recent years. They printed, distributed money, and for this money they raked out all the goods from the markets of third countries.

Let me add one more thing: the United States has long been a major supplier of food to the world market, deservedly, indeed, deservedly proud of - and there was something - of their agriculture, farming traditions, this is an example for many, and for us, by the way, too. But today America's role has changed dramatically. From a net exporter of food, it has become a net importer. Roughly speaking, they print money and draw commodity flows over themselves, buying food all over the world.

Even higher rates of increase in imports of goods are observed in the European Union. It is clear that such a sharp increase in demand, not backed by product supply, launched a wave of shortages and global inflation. That's where it comes from, this global inflation. Over the past couple of years, almost everything in the world has risen in price: raw materials, consumer goods, and especially food.

Yes, of course, these countries, including the States, they continue to import, but the balance between exports and imports is already in the opposite direction: there are already, in my opinion, 17 billion more imports than exports. That's what it's all about.

According to the UN, back in February this year, the global food cost index was 50 percent higher than in May 2020, and the composite commodity index doubled over the same period.

In the context of an inflationary storm, many developing countries have a reasonable question: why exchange goods for dollars and euros, which are losing weight before our eyes? The conclusion suggests itself: the economy of imaginary entities is inevitably replaced by the economy of real values and assets.

According to the IMF, there are now $7.1 trillion and €2.5 trillion in global foreign exchange reserves, and this money is depreciating at a rate of about eight percent per year. But, in addition, at any moment they can also be confiscated, stolen, if the United States does not like something in the policy of certain states. Well, this, in my opinion, has become absolutely real for very many countries that keep their gold and foreign exchange reserves in these currencies.

According to experts, in the coming years, this is an objective analysis, the process of converting global reserves will be launched - they simply have nowhere to go with such deficits - from currencies losing their value into real resources - other countries, of course, will do this, - such as food, energy, and other raw materials. Obviously, this process will further spur global dollar inflation.

spot supplies of natural gas, which led to a sharp increase in the cost of energy, which has been observed since the third quarter of last year, also made an additional negative contribution to the unwinding of prices - I repeat again, long before the start of our operation in the Donbass. We have absolutely nothing to do with it. They themselves did things there, prices skyrocketed, and they are looking for the guilty again.

The miscalculations of the West not only affected the growth in the cost of many goods and services, but also led to a decrease in the output of fertilizers, primarily nitrogen fertilizers produced from natural gas. In general, only from the middle of last year to February of this year, global prices for fertilizers increased by more than 70 percent.

Unfortunately, there are no prerequisites for changing such price trends today. On the contrary, against this background, the work of enterprises and the logistics of fertilizer supplies from Russia and Belarus are blocked. Thus, the situation is further driven into a deadlock.

It is not difficult to calculate the further development of events. The lack of fertilizers means a decrease in yields, which means that the risks of undersupply of food to the world market will increase, prices will go up even more, which threatens starvation primarily in the poorest countries, and this will be entirely on the conscience of the United States administration and the European bureaucracy.

Let me emphasize once again: this problem did not appear today, not in the last three or four months, and it absolutely certainly did not arise through Russia’s fault, as some demagogues are now saying, trying to shift the responsibility for everything that happens in the world economy onto our country.

Of course, we might be pleased to hear that we are so powerful and omnipotent: we are blowing inflation to the skies in the West, in the USA, in Europe, we are doing something else there that makes everyone in a fever. Maybe it would be nice for us to feel such power, but this is not true. The situation has matured over the years, spurred on by the short-sighted actions of those who are accustomed to solving their problems at someone else's expense, who relied and still rely on the mechanism of financial emission in order to outbid, pull over trade flows and thereby exacerbate deficits and provoke humanitarian catastrophes in certain regions peace. I would like to add: this is, in fact, the same predatory colonial policy, but, of course, in a new form, in a new edition, much more subtle and sophisticated. You won't understand right away what's going on.

Now the most important task for the entire world community is to increase the supply of food products to the global market, including meeting the needs of countries ...

Dear friends!

As I have already said, the modern world is going through an era of cardinal changes. International institutions break down and fail. Security guarantees are devalued. The West has fundamentally refused to fulfill its earlier obligations. It was simply impossible to reach any new agreements with him.

In the current situation, against the backdrop of growing risks and threats for us, Russia's decision to conduct a special military operation was forced. Difficult, certainly, but forced and necessary.

This is the decision of a sovereign country, which has an unconditional right, based, by the way, on the UN Charter, to defend its security. A decision aimed at protecting our citizens, residents of the people's republics of Donbass, who for eight years were subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazis who received the full protection of the West.

The West not only sought to implement the “anti-Russia” scenario, but also led an active military development of Ukrainian territory, literally pumping Ukraine with weapons and military advisers. It continues to do so even now. To be honest, no one pays any attention to the development of the economy, the well-being of the people living there, they just don’t give a damn about it, in any way, but there is no money to create a NATO foothold in the east, directed against Russia, to cultivate aggression, hatred and Russophobia regretted and do not regret.

Today, our soldiers and officers, Donbass militia are fighting to protect their people. They defend the right of Russia to free and secure development as a large multinational country that makes decisions on its own, determines its own future, relies on its history, culture and traditions and rejects all attempts to impose pseudo-values from outside dehumanization and moral degradation.

All tasks of the special military operation will certainly be solved. And the key to this is the courage and heroism of our soldiers, the consolidation of Russian society, whose support gives strength and confidence to the Russian army and navy, a deep understanding of the rightness and historical justice of our cause – building and strengthening a strong sovereign power, Russia.

What do I want to emphasize? Sovereignty in the 21st century cannot be partial, fragmentary. All its elements are equally important, they reinforce and complement each other.

Therefore, it is important for us not only to defend our political sovereignty and national identity, but also to strengthen everything that determines the economic independence of the country, its financial, personnel, technological independence and independence.

The very construction of Western sanctions was built on the false thesis that Russia is not sovereign from the point of view of the economy, it is critically vulnerable. They were so carried away by the spread of myths about the backwardness of Russia, about the weakness of its positions in the world economy and trade, that they themselves, apparently, believed it.

When planning their economic blitzkrieg, they did not notice, they simply ignored the real facts, how our country has changed in recent years.

And these changes are the result of our planned work to create a sustainable macroeconomic structure, to ensure food security, to implement import substitution programs, to form our own payment system, and so on.

Of course, the sanctions restrictions have posed many difficult tasks for the country. Some enterprises continue to experience problems with components. A number of technological solutions have become inaccessible to our companies. Logistics broken.

But, on the other hand, all this opens up new opportunities for us - we often talk about it, but it's true. All this is an incentive to build an economy that has full, and not partial, technological, production, personnel, scientific potential and sovereignty.

Of course, such a complex problem cannot be solved, as they say, at one moment. We need to continue systematic work designed for the future. This is exactly how Russia is acting, implementing long-term plans for the development of economic sectors and strengthening the social sphere. And the current tests only make adjustments and refinements to these plans, but do not change their strategic focus.

And today I would like to dwell on the key principles on the basis of which our country and our economy will develop.

The first is openness. Truly sovereign states are always committed to equal partnership, to making their contribution to global development. And, on the contrary, those who are weak and dependent, as a rule, are busy looking for enemies, planting xenophobia, or finally losing their originality, independence, blindly following the overlord.

Russia - despite the fact that our Western, so to speak, friends literally dream about it - will never follow the path of self-isolation and autarky. Moreover, we are expanding and will continue to expand interaction with everyone who is interested in this, who wants to work with us. There are many, I won't list them. This is the vast majority of people on earth. Now I will not list all these countries, everyone knows about it.

I won’t say anything new if I remind you that everyone who wants to continue working and working with Russia is subjected to open pressure from the United States and Europe, sometimes even reaching direct threats. However, such blackmail means little when it comes to countries headed by real leaders who clearly understand where others are and where national, their own interests, the interests of their peoples.

Russia will build up economic cooperation with such states and promote joint projects. At the same time, of course, we will also interact with Western companies that, despite the unprecedented "arm-twisting", continue to successfully operate on the Russian market, there are also such companies.

We see the development of a convenient and independent payment infrastructure in national currencies as a solid, predictable basis for deepening international cooperation. And in order to help companies in our countries establish logistics and cooperation ties, we are shaping the development of transport corridors, increasing the capacity of railways, transshipment capacities of ports in the Arctic, in the eastern, southern and other directions. Including in the Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins, they will become the most important section of the North-South corridor, which will provide stable communication channels with the Middle East and South Asia. We expect that cargo traffic along this route will begin to grow steadily in the near future.

But international trade is not the only thing that matters. Russia intends to build up scientific, technological, cultural, humanitarian and sports cooperation on the principles of equality and respect for partners. At the same time, our country will strive for responsible leadership in all these areas.

The second principle of our long-term development is the reliance on entrepreneurial freedoms. Each private initiative aimed at the benefit of Russia should receive maximum support and space for implementation.

The pandemic and current events have confirmed the importance of flexibility and freedom in an economy. It is private business that, under harsh conditions, against the background of attempts to restrain our development by any means, has proved that it is able to compete in global markets. Adaptation to rapidly changing external conditions also occurs at the expense of private business. It is necessary to ensure the dynamic development of the economy, of course, relying on private business.”