President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was delighted some foreign companies had left Russia because it allowed homegrown enterprises to take their place, and he cautioned the West that Moscow would still find a way to acquire superior technology and luxury items.
Putin has painted the invasion of Ukraine as a watershed moment in Russian history, seeing it as a retaliation by Moscow against the US, which he claims has humiliated Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine claims to be fighting for its life.
Aside from the loss and suffering of war, the conflict and the West’s attempt to punish Russia by isolating it has slowed global economic growth and produced a wave of inflation as grain, cooking oil, fertiliser, and energy costs have risen dramatically.
Since the war, a slew of large international companies, ranging from BP to McDonald’s, have pulled out, putting the Russian economy in the worse shape since the chaos of the Soviet collapse.
“Sometimes you look at those who go and think to yourself, ‘Thank God, perhaps?’ “Our business, our manufacturing – it has already developed, and it will safely sit on the ground prepared by our partners,” Putin stated.
Putin joked to leaders of ex-Soviet republics via video link that luxury like Mercedes, which were popular with bandits in post-Soviet Russia’s disarray, would still be available, though they might be a little more expensive.
Putin stated that Russia still requires access to developed economies’ superior technologies.
“We are not going to shut ourselves off from this – they want to squeeze us out a little, but this is simply impractical, unachievable in the modern world.”
He didn’t go into detail on how Russia would keep access to western components and software.
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Putin guaranteed that Western attempts to isolate Russia would fail, claiming that developed economies were dealing with an inflationary spiral, disrupted supply chains, and a food crisis at the same time that Asia had become the centre of global economic power.
Russian inflation has risen as a result of Western sanctions, which have disrupted supply chains, yet Putin claims the economy is doing well and that Russia is turning away from the West in favour of China, India, and other powers.
“Of course, our business representatives confront challenges, particularly in the areas of supply chains and transportation. “However, everything can be altered, and everything may be built in a different way,” Putin remarked.
“It’s not without setbacks at times, but it helps us grow in some ways.” In any event, we are developing new skills, and we are beginning to focus our economic, financial, and administrative resources on areas where we can make a difference.
On Thursday, Russia’s central bank dropped its key interest rate to 11% and indicated it expects more cuts this year as inflation falls from more than 20-year highs and the economy contracts.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 killed thousands of people, displaced millions more, and sparked concerns of the most severe conflict between Russia and the US since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Putin claims that the US was using Ukraine to threaten Russia through NATO enlargement, and that Moscow was forced to safeguard Russian-speaking people.
These are rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies as bogus pretexts for invading a sovereign country.
