Putin accuses West of trying to crush Russia with ‘stupid’ sanctions in economic ‘blitzkrieg’

Putin said Washington and its allies were trying to “change the course of history” and weaken a sovereign Russia

Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to crush Russia with “stupid” sanctions and said they had undertaken an economic “blitzkrieg” against the country.

In a robust speech at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum he reaffirmed his commitment to the conflict with Ukraine and said the aim of the war was to defend “our” people in the Donbas region of the country.

Putin said the Russian soldiers in the Donbas - that has been the scene for the most fearsome battles in recent months- were also fighting to defend Russia’s own “rights to secure development”.

“The West has fundamentally refused to fulfil its earlier obligations, it turned out to be simply impossible to reach any new agreements with it,” he said.

“In the current situation, against a backdrop of increasing risks for us and threats, Russia’s decision to conduct a special military operation was forced - difficult, of course, but forced and necessary.”

“We are strong people and can cope with any challenge. Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem, the entire thousand-year history of our country speaks of this.” he said.

Putin also turned his ire to the United States who he said considered itself “God’s emissary on Earth” and that Washington and its allies were trying to “change the course of history” and weaken a sovereign Russia by sanctions.

He also said the US was driving up food prices by printing money and “snapping up” food on global markets.

Putin turned to Russia’s ailing economy and called on Russia’s enterprises to boost their domestic investment to help realise the country’s “gigantic potential” and defy what he called Western attempts to destroy the Russian economy.

Putin said some global currencies were “committing suicide” in a reference to the unprecedented freezing of around $300 billion of Russia’s foreign currency reserves.

And despite the country’s looming recession which is set to be Russia’s deepest contraction in at least two decades, Putin said Moscow would stick to a “responsible macroeconomic policy”.

He added that the EU could lose more than $400 billion due to the sanctions, which he said would rebound on those who had imposed them.

The Russian leader ended his 73-minute address by saying that Russia was entering a new global order as a “powerful and modern country”.

Putin said it was “obvious” that the rules of the new global order would be set by “strong and sovereign states”.

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