The Russian president intervenes in an economic forum to justify the war in Ukraine and blame Europe for the current situation with gas supplies
In his speech today at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, which has been held since Monday in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened not to prolong the agreement reached with Ukraine at the end of July thanks to the mediation of Turkey for the export of Ukrainian grain. In his opinion, the grain is not being sent to the most needy countries.
“We did everything possible to ensure that Ukrainian grain was exported. (…) we did it together with Turkey. If we exclude Turkey as an intermediary country, then almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is not being sent to the poorest developing countries, but to the countries of the European Union,” Putin lamented.
In this regard, the head of the Kremlin added that “just as many European countries in recent decades and centuries have acted as colonizers, today they continue to do the same.” In his words, “they have once again cheated the developing countries and continue to do so (…) in this way, the food problems in these poorer countries will only increase, which could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. without precedents”. He said that, in such a situation, he will speak with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to “limit the export of grain and food trade along this route”, that is, towards Europe.
On July 22, two separate agreements were signed in Istanbul with Turkey and the United Nations for the export of grain, Ukraine on the one hand and Russia on the other. kyiv, for its part, promised to guide the ships safely and avoid minefields, while Russia agreed not to attack Ukrainian cargo ships or port infrastructure.
Also today, Russia’s representative to the UN, Víctor Nebenzia, spoke about cereal exports, assuring that “we reached an agreement, but it does not work with regard to the Russian side. Not a single Russian ship has taken Russian grain out of Russian ports for export.” Nebenzia hinted, given the circumstances, that Moscow could terminate the agreements or not prolong them when they expire in December.
The advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, Mijailo Podoliak, for his part, pointed out that “there are no objective reasons to review the grain export agreement (…) from our point of view and that of the intermediaries, it is being strictly complied with ». Podoliak called the position expressed by Putin “unexpected” and “unfounded.”
Putin also spoke today about the current crisis of Russian fuel supplies to Europe. According to his point of view, Russia is not using energy as a weapon, despite the indefinite interruption of gas supplies to the Old Continent through the Nord Stream gas pipeline and the warning of its spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, that the fluid will not be restored while sanctions are not lifted.
The top Russian leader dismissed as “nonsense” the accusations that Russia uses the cuts as a weapon. He said that his country is willing to provide the volumes requested by importing countries, but he made reference to the breakdown suffered by a turbine, which, according to him, is the cause of oil leaks and the current stoppage in the gas pipeline. “If they provide us with the turbine, we will reactivate the Nord Stream tomorrow,” he assured. Peskov already warned on Monday that Western sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine have caused a huge deficit in spare parts for the maintenance of the equipment that services the pipeline, which, according to his statements, “threatens the integrity of the North Stream. Putin stressed this morning that “it has not been Russia that has imposed sanctions”, a measure that he defined as “a dead end for all, for some and for others”.
The reason why Russia could stop supplying fuel to the West, stressed the Russian president, would be to establish caps on the prices of these raw materials, something that he considers “an absolutely stupid decision.” “We will not provide anything at all if it is contrary to our interests, in this case economic, no gas, no oil, no coal, nothing,” he warned. The G7 countries decided on Friday to put a cap on Russian oil prices.
“Those who try to impose this on us are not in a position now to dictate their will to us, they have very short hands, Putin said and recalled that the gas pipeline through Ukraine »does not work at the initiative of kyiv and the Yamal-Europe was closed by Poland«. As a solution, he proposed putting the Nord Stream-2 pipeline into service, something the governing coalition in Germany sees with reluctance. »We are ready to open the gas pipeline (…) it is enough to press a button«, assured the Russian president.
Alluding to the war in Ukraine, Putin repeated his well-known argument that “hostilities began in 2014, after the coup in Ukraine, by those who did not want normal and peaceful development. and they tried to suppress their own people by carrying out one military operation after another and subjecting the people living in Donbass to genocide for 8 years.” He noted that his country “conscientiously responded to that” and called the invasion of Ukraine “a duty” of Moscow that needs to be “fulfilled to the end.”
“We have not started anything in terms of military operations, but we are only trying to end them,” the Russian president insisted. In his opinion, »I am sure that we have not lost and will not lose anything. From the point of view of the profits -of the war-, I can say that the main acquisition is the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now«.
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