Putin blasts West’s ‘moron’ leaders for hitting Russia with sanctions

Vladimir Putin blasted the West’s “moron” leaders for threatening Russia with new sanctions if he refuses to meet Volodymyr Zelensky for ceasefire negotiations on Thursday.

Speaking at the 20th Congress of the Business Russia Organisation on Tuesday (13 May), Putin said: “You'd think they wouldn't do this or that, since it clearly hurts them, but nope, they still do it.”

He then exclaimed: “Morons!”

His comment was met with laughter from the audience, before Putin went on to apologise, adding: “The world's top economies are tipping into recession just to spite us.”