Putin told an economic forum that Western countries are trying « to maintain the old world order that is beneficial only to them. »
Vladimir Putin has condemned the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the U.S. and its allies, insisting that the invasion of Ukraine that sparked them has strengthened Russia’s sovereignty and that Russia had lost nothing as a result of the conflict.
Addressing the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok, the Russian president said that the punishment imposed by Western countries on Russia was part of an « epidemic » that posed a « threat to the whole world. »
« The sanctions fever of the West, its aggressive attempts to impose a model of behavior on other countries, deprive them of their sovereignty and subordinate them to their will, » he told the plenary session.
« This is a policy that has been pursued by the collective West for decades, » Putin said, adding that « the catalyst » for it was « the dominance of the United States of America in the global economy and politics. »
He made no mention of the fact that the sanctions were imposed as a result of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
