The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine analyzes the main narratives of vladimir putin’s speech at the Eastern Economic Forum on September 7:
On geopolitical views of the russian federation:
· “the world should be multi-polar and fairer and not depend on a single country’s dictatorship. It is necessary to respect the interests of other countries, regardless of their territory size, GDP volumes and the availability of modern weapons”;
· “the elusive US dominance has caused the sanctions fever, threatening the entire world.
· socio-economic stability is thrown into “the furnace of sanctions” as a victim of US economic dictatorship.”
· “it is impossible to isolate russia, suffice it to look at the map. Polarization in the world and within russia will only benefit it. It is virtually the only country capable of fully providing itself with resources. We will always protect our sovereign interests”;
· “in Britain, the procedure for electing the head of the state is not democratic, as it is established within the framework of the dominant party, and the people are not engaged in the change of government”;
On the anti-russian sanctions and economic situation:
· “the russian federation manages to weather the West’s economic, financial and technical aggression. The peak of the most difficult economic situation in russia has passed, and the next budget will be allocated with a surplus. Even if there is a downturn in the economy, it will be insignificant – barely more than 2%”;
· “due to Western sanctions policy, businesses are being shut down in Europe and global inflation is rising. The latter is increasing in the West and falling in russia. Confidence in the dollar, the euro, and the pound sterling has been lost before our eyes”;
· “the number of jobs is decreasing due to the severance of relations with the russian federation, and the unemployment rate in Russia reached its historic low of less than 4%. The competitiveness of European enterprises is declining, and the niche of European businesses affected by the sanctions will be taken over by Americans”;
On the grain crisis:
· “food procurement by Western countries is pushing up prices and will lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the poorest countries – the Europeans continue to adopt their colonial practices and delude the poorest”;
· “the price rise on global markets is disastrous for the poorest countries, and the grain exported from Ukraine is not delivered to poor African countries but the EU. We will discuss the possibility of restricting the export of Ukrainian grain with Erdogan”;
On russia’s energy blackmail in Europe:
• “European energy suppliers are not of primary importance anymore, and the blame for the energy crisis is on the Western leaders. The idea of rising gas and oil prices will cause higher prices”;
• “Nord Stream 2” was built for a reason – if necessary, we will switch it on immediately. Our gas pipeline is far more competitive than LNG and currently, russia has no problems with the implementation of its energy suppliers, particularly in China.
On the war in Ukraine:
• “we have not started it – we are trying to finish it. Therefore, it was a deliberate invasion of Ukraine to end the conflict in Donbas after numerous attempts at peaceful settlement”.
• “russia’s invasion of Ukraine complies with international law since the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine declared their independence and have the right of national self-determination as a result of “the Kosovo precedent”. russia recognized its independence and signed an agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance, ratified by “the parliaments of the republics”. Under the agreement, the russian federation assists in resisting the aggression of the “Kyiv regime”. Thus, military aid complies with the UN Charter and is an inalienable right to collective defense due to a military attack.
• “Since February 24, the russian federation has not lost anything and will not lose anything. russia decided to respond in the same way as our potential adversary did. We acted deliberately, intending to help the people of Donbas – it is our debt, and we will fulfill it to the end. The consequences of the war cut off all unnecessary issues and strengthen russia’s sovereignty.”
• “the russian federation is ready to face different challenges, including the USA’s constant supply of new weapons to Ukraine”;
! It is significant that answering the question about the situation in Ukraine putin noted that the topic of the forum is Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Ukraine is supposedly irrelevant. After all, there is nothing to boast about.
As usual, he talked about “the 2014 coup”, which did not prevent him from signing “the Minsk Agreements” with the allegedly “illegitimate” P. Poroshenko.
He referred to “the Kosovo precedent” regarding the recognition of the pseudo-states in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. However, it by no means explains why the occupiers held part of the Kherson, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. Moreover, what was the aim of “a gesture of goodwill” in Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions?
In the meantime, at the forum on the issues in the Asia-Pacific region, putin mentioned “the imperfections of democratic procedures” in Great Britain, voicing the Kremlin’s concerns over newly elected prime minister Liz Truss.
Indeed, the “great geopolitician and historian of the russian federation” knows nothing about the peculiarities of the British constitutional monarchy and its democratic traditions since the times when hordes of mosquitoes ruled the Mokshan bogs.
