While Russian President Vladimir Putin did touch on economic matters at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, his speech is destined to be remembered for other statements.
Here’s a sample of some of the autocrat's remarks at the Tuesday, Sept. 12 conference in Vladivostok.
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1. About the counteroffensive of Ukraine
Putin dismissed the significance of Ukraine receiving F-16 fighter aircraft from Western allies, saying that it would just “prolong the conflict.”
“Now we will not say – failure, not failure. There are no results. There are big losses. Since the beginning of this counteroffensive, the loss of personnel is 71.5 thousand people. According to them, they want to achieve results at any cost. Sometimes it seems that these are not their people. The commanders just tell me from the battlefield. Constantly [we call them up],” Putin said.
“Here they are going to deliver the F-16. Will it change anything? No. It just drags the conflict on,” he said.
2. Half a Million New Russian Recruits
Putin claimed that the Russian army had recruited over half a million people in the past year, both through the draft and voluntary enlistments, to fight in Ukraine.
While the first wave of mobilization led to emigration, Putin maintained that volunteers join the ranks daily.
“We had a partial mobilization... We called up 300,000 people. Now, in the last six or seven months, 270,000 people have voluntarily signed contracts to serve in the Russian army,” Putin said.
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“Moreover, the process continues, with 1,000-1,500 people coming every day to sign contracts,” he added.
Asked about whether Russia will introduce another mobilization wave, he did not outright deny the possibility but said:
“Our men, knowing what awaits them on the front, still go for this consciously and voluntarily to defend the motherland,” Putin said.
3. Downplaying the Ruble’s Fall
Amid the plummeting value of the Russian ruble, Putin downplayed the crisis.
“This issue requires its own painstaking research by the central bank and the Russian government and financial authorities,” Putin told the Economic Forum.
“But in general, I don’t think that there are any completely insurmountable problems or difficulties here,” he said.
4. Trump Legal Cases are “Politically Motivated Persecution”
Putin characterized legal proceedings against former US President Donald Trump as “politically motivated persecution" and suggested it revealed what he called the “rottenness” of the American system.
“As for the persecution of Trump, for us, in the current environment, it’s good because it shows the rottenness of the American system,” Putin said.
“It is a politically motivated persecution of one’s competitor,” Putin said.
“And this shows who we are fighting... As they said in Soviet times: ‘the bestial face of American imperialism.’”
He also accused Washington of stoking anti-Russian feelings among ordinary Americans.
“Current authorities have directed American society in an anti-Russian spirit,” he said.
5. Putin’s Ambiguity on His 2024 Election Bid
Putin remained tight-lipped about whether he will run for re-election in 2024.
“In accordance with the law, the parliament must decide [on presidential elections] by the end of the year. When the decision is made, the election date will be announced, then we will talk,” Putin said.
6. The Soviet Invasions of Czechoslovakia and Hungary were “wrong”
Putin responded to accusations regarding the Soviet Union’s actions in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, saying this policy was an ‘erroneous’ one.
The moderator cited statements from Czech and Hungarian authorities saying that “the USSR behaved like a colonizer when it introduced tanks into Prague and Budapest.”
“We have already recognized long ago that this part of the policy of the Soviet Union was wrong and led only to the tension of relations. It is impossible to do anything in the sphere of foreign policy, which is in clear contradiction with the interests of other peoples. But it is on these rakes (a Russian idiom meaning to repeatedly make a mistake), if we talk about rakes, that the leading countries of the West, and above all the United States, are advancing.
7. Weapons based on “New Physical Principles”
Putin said that Russia is working on creating weapons “on new physical principles.” According to him, such weapons "will ensure the security of any country in the near-term historical perspective.”
Putin did not specify what kind of weapons he was talking about.
According to TASS, weapons utilizing novel physical principles incorporate the application of fundamentally new or previously “untapped technologies” and “operational principles.”
These categories of armaments typically encompass technologies such as lasers, infrasound, radio frequencies, and other emerging innovations.
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