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President Vladimir Putin says Russia will in the end emerge stronger and more independent after surmounting the difficulties created by the West’s “illegitimate sanctions.”
On February 24, Putin announced a “special military operation” aimed at “demilitarization” of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, which in 2014 had declared themselves new republics, refusing to recognize Ukraine’s Western-backed government.
Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”
As the operation unfolded, the West began unleashing waves of sanctions on Moscow. On March 8, the United States even imposed bans on Russian oil and other energy imports, a move that was condemned by Moscow as an “economic war on Russia.”
Furthermore, a senior US administration official anonymously told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the White House was consulting with those involved in the nuclear power industry about the potential impact of imposing punitive measures against Russia’s state-owned Rosatom Corp., the country’s atomic energy company, which is considered one of the world’s largest nuclear energy companies and is a major supplier of fuel and technology to power plants across the globe.
During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Putin said there had been no alternative to Russia’s operation in Ukraine, adding that Russia was not a country, which could accept compromising its sovereignty for some sort of short-term economic gain.
“These sanctions would have been imposed in any case. There are some questions, problems and difficulties but in the past, we have overcome them and we will overcome them. In the end, this will all lead to an increase in our independence, self-sufficiency and our sovereignty.”
Putin also emphasized that “sanctions on Russia are not legitimate.” He said Russia would keep its composure in resolving the problems that would arise.
Elsewhere in his remarks on Thursday, Putin said Russia, which supplies about 40 percent of Europe’s gas, would be able to continue to meet its contractual obligations.
“They (Americans) announced that they are closing the import of Russian oil to the American market. Prices there are high, inflation is unprecedentedly high, has reached historic highs. They are trying to blame the results of their own mistakes on us,” he said, adding, “We have absolutely nothing to do with it.”
“It is clear that at such moments people’s demand for certain groups of goods always increases, but we have no doubt that we will solve all these problems while working in a calm fashion.”
“Gradually, people will orient themselves, they will understand that there are simply no events that we cannot close off and solve,” Putin said.
Putin also ridiculed Washington for its efforts to sign power deals with Iran and Venezuela.
“They are already trying at any cost to come to an agreement with the countries against which they have imposed illegal sanctions,” the Russian president said, adding, “And they are ready to make peace with Iran and sign all the documents immediately. And with Venezuela. They went to Venezuela for talks with them.”
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, for his part, said at the same meeting that Russia had taken steps to lessen the outflow of capital and that Moscow would service its external debts in rubles.
“Over the last two weeks, Western countries have in essence waged an economic and financial war against Russia,” he said, adding that the West had defaulted on its obligations to Russia by freezing its gold and foreign currency reserves.
The minister said the West was in fact trying to halt Russia’s foreign trade, emphasizing, “In these conditions, the priority is for us to stabilize the situation in the financial system.”
Observers warn that the sanctions against Russia would potentially have major implications for the world’s economy.
Putin: Sanctions on Russia could send global food prices soaring
Putin also said Western sanctions on Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine could send global food prices soaring, as Russia was one of the world’s main producers of fertilizer.
“Russia and Belarus are some of the biggest suppliers of mineral fertilizers. If they continue to create problems for the financing and logistics of the delivery of our goods, then prices will rise and this will affect the final product, food products,” he told the meeting.a
