US Losing Dominance as Asia Clout Grows, Russia Boosts Sovereignty: Highlights of Putin’s EEF Speech

Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered an address to a plenary session on the 3rd day of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), an annual event that is dedicated to the development of Russia's Far East.

President Vladimir Putin highlighted the tectonic shift in international relations, the waning world dominance of the US, growing role of the Asian region as well as Russia’s resilience in the face of sanctions during a speech on the third day of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.

The ‘sanctions fever’ instigated by the so-called collective West is a threat to the whole world, said Putin at the EEF plenary session. According to the Russian president, the COVID-19 pandemic has been replaced by other challenges, also of a global nature, threatening the whole world.

"I refer to the West's sanctions fever, its undisguised, aggressive attempts to impose behavior patterns on other countries, deprive them of sovereignty and subjugate them to their will."

The waning world dominance of the US in politics and economy, coupled with the "stubborn unwillingness and inability of the Western elites to see and recognize objective reality" served as a catalyst for these processes, Putin said.

'Diktat & Arbitrariness'

Western countries, in an attempt to resist the course of history, have undermined the key pillars of the world economic system, forged over the centuries, Vladimir Putin said.

"We see how confidence in the dollar, euro and pound sterling as currencies to carry out payments, store reserves, nominate assets has been lost," Putin underscored.

The world is gradually moving away from using such unreliable, compromised currencies, the president emphasized, adding that even US allies are cutting their dollar assets.

The so-called collective West seeks to preserve a world order serving only its own interests, stated the Russian President.

"Western countries strive to maintain the old world order that is beneficial only to them, to force the global community to live according to the notorious rules that they invented and themselves regularly violate and constantly alter depending on the current state of affairs," - Putin said.

The US is persistently and unashamedly pursuing its own interests, stopping at nothing to achieve its goals, including sacrificing European companies that have to close down due to crippling energy costs, the president warned. He added that it would not be surprising if this policy resulted in European business niches, both on the continent and on the global market, being taken over by their ‘American patrons’.

The reluctance of other countries to submit to such diktat and arbitrariness makes the Western elites adopt rash, short-sighted, adventurous decisions both from the point of view of world security, politics, and the economy," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum. These decisions run counter to the interests of countries and citizens of the Western states themselves, he added.

Dynamic Growth of Asia-Pacific Region

According to the Russian leader, tectonic changes have taken place in the system of international relations.

"The role of dynamic, promising states and regions of the world has significantly increased. And above all, of course, the Asia-Pacific region. Its countries have become new centers of economic and technological growth, points of attraction for personnel, capital, production," Putin told the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The economy of Asian countries is growing faster than Western countries, this trend will continue in the future, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, adding:

"Let me remind you that over the past 10 years, the GDP of Asian countries has grown annually by approximately 5%, while the world's - by 3%; the GDP of the US – by 2%, the EU by 1.2%.”

The Russian president underscored the importance of this trend continuing, as it will inevitably lead to the share of Asian economies in global GDP growing from 37.1% in 2015 to 45% in 2027, he stated.

An absolute majority of countries of the Asia Pacific region do not accept the destructive sanctions policy, unleashed against Russia over its ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin stated.

Global Food Insecurity

Putin told the EEF plenary session that while restrictions on Russian grain are still in place as part of the sanctions policy, this continues to drive up prices.

Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat, with Ukraine in fifth place. Jointly, the two countries account for more than one-third of global cereal exports and a half of the world's sunflower oil export market.

This comes as 345 million people across the globe already experience food shortages - 2.5 times more than in 2019.

"Rising prices in the global markets can be a real tragedy for most of the poorest countries that face shortages of food, energy resources and other vital goods. I would like to mention the numbers that emphasize the danger of the problem: in 2019, according to the United Nations, 135 million people in the world experienced acute food shortages, but that number has now increased by 2.5 times to 345 million people," Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The poorest nations are increasingly losing access to essential food products as developed nations buy them 'en masse,' Putin warned, provoking a sharp rise in prices.The Russian leader called for joining forces in an effort to reverse this trend. According to the Russian president, there is every chance for this. It is necessary not only to make decisions under some 'plausible pretext', but also to "work together on the implementation of the decisions made," Putin said at the plenary session of the EEF.

A humanitarian catastrophe may be triggered by the fact that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to their countries, and not to African states in need, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Out of 87 ships with grain, only two were sent to countries in need, according to the UN World Food Programme data cited by the president at the plenary session. he noted that those in need received only 3% of grain out of 2 million tonnes exported from Ukraine.

"I want to say that, just as many European countries in previous decades and centuries acted as colonialists, they continue to act today ... with this approach, the scale of food problems in the world will only grow, which, unfortunately, to our great regret, can lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe," Putin said.

In this regard, the Russian president said that he will consider limiting the export of grain and other foodstuffs along this route, and will consult on this topic with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Despite all the difficulties of the events taking place around Ukraine, we did everything to ensure that Ukrainian grain was exported. I met with the leaders of the African Union, with the leaders of African states, I promised them that we would do everything to ensure their interests and facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain. We did it without instructions," Putin added.

Strengthening of Sovereignty

Russia has not lost anything since February 24 when it began a special operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, adding that the main gain is the strengthening of Russia's sovereignty.

"I am sure that we have not lost anything [with the start of the operation in Ukraine] and will not lose anything. The main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now," underscored Putin.

Russia will always defend its national interests, pursue an independent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the EEF plenary session.

"Russia is a sovereign state, we will always protect our national interests by pursuing an independent policy, and we value the same qualities in partners who have demonstrated reliability and responsibility in the course of trade, investment and other cooperation for many years,’ stated Putin, in a reference to Asia-Pacific region nations.

International law has been repeatedly trampled on, as evidenced by the war in Iraq, the West’s actions in Yugoslavia and the bombing of Belgrade. None of these were sanctioned by the UN sanctions, said Putin, adding that the Russian Federation has not violated any principles of international law, yet is being blamed.

"Now many people claim that Russia is violating international law. I think that this is absolutely untrue. Who started the war in Iraq without any UN sanctions? Who destroyed Yugoslavia under plausible pretexts? Who unleashed a war in the center of Europe by bombing Belgrade? No one remembered the principles of international law then," Putin said

Europe’s Sanctions ‘Deadlock’

Vladimir Putin called attempts to cap the price for Russian energy resources nonsense, warning it would lead to further growth of costs on the world markets, including in Europe.

“Nothing can be solved by administrative means in the sphere of the economy and world trade," he said, commenting on the proposal of the European Union and the G7 countries to limit the marginal prices for Russian oil and gas.

Meanwhile, the demand for energy resources in the world is so great that Russia has no problems with finding buyers, said President Vladimir Putin. In particular, he noted that the growing demand for energy resources in such a large economy as China's. All main parameters of gas supplies to China through Mongolia have been agreed, even prices, he added.

"Receiving natural gas from Russia, the economies of the leading European countries had obvious competitive advantages of a global nature for decades. If they think that they do not need such advantages, well, it does not bother us in any way because the need for energy resources in the world is very large," Putin said.

As for the backfired sanctions and their impact on the growing energy crisis facing the European Union and Britain, he added: There is only one way out - in Germany, we see demonstrations for the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline." The Russian head of state dismissed accusations that Russia was resorting to "gas blackmail".

“Nord Stream is practically closed now. Everyone says: Russia is wielding energy as a weapon. Again - nonsense. We supply as much energy as our partners need, as much as they place an order for," Putin said.

The European market has always been considered a premium market, but since the crisis around Ukraine, it has ceased to be one, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out on Wednesday. he added that even the United States had "redirected their tankers with liquefied natural gas to Asian countries, because it was more profitable to sell there."

According to Vladimir Putin, Europe has cornered itself into a sanctions "impasse" and does not know what to do with it. The raging energy crisis gained tremendous magnitude after a range of formal and informal restrictions were slapped on oil, gas, coal, and electricity sourced from Russia. Just last week, Nord Stream, the last large pipeline pumping Russian gas to the EU, was shut down. Gazprom clarified it was forced to stop pumping gas through the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe due to the last remaining turbine suffering a malfunction. The company said it requested repairs from the turbine manufacturer, but that they are currently unavailable due to western sanctions.