Key Takeaways From President Putin’s Speech at Eastern Economic Forum

The Russian president used the EEF platform on Thursday to touch upon a broad range of important global and domestic issues, clarifying his country’s stance.

Putin said that Russia respects and welcomes the sincere interest of its friends and partners in resolving all issues related to the Ukraine conflict, “first of all, the People’s Republic of China, Brazil, and India.”

While underscoring that the Russian Armed Forces are pushing the enemy out of Russia’s border region, Putin pointed to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime’s heavy losses in equipment and manpower. The Russian head of state also shared his personal impression that Ukraine was being led by “aliens or foreigners” who do not care about the fate of their own country.

Saudi Role in Prisoner Swap

The Russian president thanked Saudi Arabia’s crown prince for his assistance in the exchange of Russian citizens that took place last month.

Many other countries in the Arab world also played a role in work on the prisoner exchange, Putin added.

Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Putin noted that «this stance is shared by many people in the world and, as strange as it may seem, by the United States as well.» He went on to note that the issue has not been resolved and is «at the core of today’s escalation of the situation, present-day confrontation.»

The Russian president also clarified that:

Russia’s Future Linked with Far East Growth

As global business ties and trade routes increasingly shift to the East and Global South, the future development of Russia largely depends on how the Far East will develop, Vladimir Putin emphasized during his speech at the plenary session. He referred to Russia’s Far East region as a gateway to the promising and developing markets of Asia and the Global South.

Putin hailed the region’s vast potential for increased geological exploration and linked it to the need to ensure Russia’s resource sovereignty.

«In particular, this refers to the Northern Sea Route as an international logistics route. We are going to boost its throughput capacity, in particular by exploring the Arctic mineral deposits, reorienting cargos and increasing the transit. We have ambitious plans for developing the Northern Sea Route,” the Russian leader said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.

Putin touched upon plans for a new deep-water port with the participation of Belarusian and Chinese companies, as well as proposed building nuclear power plants in the Russian Far East. The successful implementation of all these ambitious plans and the entire economy of the future depend first of all on people, the Russian head of state noted at the EEF’s plenary session.

Vladimir Putin took a moment to take pride in the impressive growth of the Russian economy despite the West’s weaponized sanctions. He noted that Russia’s growth rates exceed the global average.

On the matter of Russian energy supplies, Putin emphasized that attempts to shut them down would backfire tremendously on the global economy.

Putin noted that Russia will solve its problems even if a country refuses to accept Russian energy resources. Specifically mentioning Iran as having long been asking for Russian gas, President Putin suggested that could be a feasible project.

While dwelling on the economy and trade routes being reoriented to the Global South, Putin touched upon the growing global de-dollarization trend, saying that Russia has never refused to conduct financial transactions in dollars, but has had to use other currencies in its trade exchanges after that option was denied.