China News Service, Beijing, June 19 (Guan Na) "Russia is capable of handling any challenge" "The era of unipolar world order is over" "The United States only cares about its own interests"... On the 17th, Russian President Vladimir Putin in the first Speech at the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
What signal did the speech considered "extremely important" send?
After multiple rounds of Western sanctions, what will Russia's economic prospects look like?
The speech conveys two key messages
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was held in 1997 and has now become one of the most important international large-scale economic forums in Russia.
This year's theme is "New World, New Opportunities".
According to the agenda, the forum is mainly divided into 4 themes, involving issues such as global economic order, Russian economy, modern technology and human resource development.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, and Western sanctions have affected the world. In this special period, Putin's speech has become the focus of world attention.
CNN commented that this is one of Putin's most important speeches since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Russian side also introduced that Putin attached great importance to it and personally participated in the preparations.
On June 17, local time, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Photo courtesy of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has lasted for more than 100 days.
Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of the China Institute of International Studies, said in an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com that the speech "is to convey Russia's confidence to the outside world that Russia can cope with the current challenges and difficulties."
"Putin's speech is of epoch-making significance." Zhao Junjie, a researcher at the European Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that "voice" and "resistance" are the key points of this speech.
"Moscow Communist Youth League" analyzed that Putin's speech conveyed two main messages.
First, Russia continues to play an important role in the world economy, and sanctions against Russia may undermine the structure of the world trade balance.
The second is to clarify the new geopolitical reality and economic situation, pointing out that a set of Western models is outdated, and Russia is willing to interact with new economic partners.
"Western sanctions against Russia are crazy and frivolous"
In this speech, after welcoming the participants, Putin went straight to the point and talked about the topic of Russia's encounter with Western sanctions.
Putin said the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the West on Russia were "crazy and reckless" and that Russia was capable of meeting any challenge.
Putin also said that sanctions are a "double-edged sword" that will cause considerable or even greater damage to the perpetrators.
European politicians have dealt a severe blow to their countries' economies with their own hands. The direct losses to the EU alone this year could be as high as $400 billion, and the inflation rate in individual euro zone countries has reached 20%.
On May 23, local time, a notice "Infant formula is out of stock" was posted on the vacant shelves of a large supermarket in New York, USA.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
High inflation, rising prices, and soaring energy prices have made people miserable.
Zhao Junjie said that Western sanctions are harming themselves. "On the surface, national interests are damaged, but in fact, ordinary people are the most victimized and most helpless."
In addition, Cui Hongjian analyzed that "the West has underestimated the resilience of the current globalized market itself", and "the reaction of sanctions will become stronger and stronger."
As for whether the United States and the West will increase sanctions on Russia in the future, Cui Hongjian said that Europe's willingness is not strong.
"One is that most of the sanctions have been exhausted, and the other is that the effect is not obvious." "It also depends on the prospect of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the actions of the United States. At least for now, whether it is the United States or Europe, further sanctions will Not enough power."
Sound the horn against Western unipolar hegemony
In his speech, Putin criticized the West for "still treating other countries as colonies." He also named and criticized the United States, saying that the United States only cares about its own interests, and named these interests "sacred".
Putin pointed out that the era of unipolar world order is over.
Data map: US President Biden.
Putin said that revolutionary structural changes are taking place in geopolitics, the global economy, the technological field and the entire system of international relations, in which the role of dynamic and promising countries and regions is being significantly increased, and their interests can no longer be ignored.
This change is unstoppable.
Zhao Junjie commented, "On relatively important occasions, Putin made a public statement, clearly sounding the clarion call against Western unipolar hegemony, which is of political significance."
In addition, "Putin's opposition to the US dollar-led Western hegemonic system also shows that he is thinking about globalization." Zhao Junjie said.
On the other hand, Putin also said that Russia will become a powerful sovereign state and formulate the rules of the new world order.
In this regard, Cui Hongjian believes, "From the standpoint of the Russian side, Putin's remarks are reasonable to a certain extent, but from the perspective of changes in the international landscape, especially from the perspective of adhering to peaceful development, this remark has its limitations." It seems that Russia is now choosing a powerful method to break the so-called unipolar world order. But whether this method adapts to the objective law of the transition from unipolar to multipolar requires further consideration.”
Russia's economy is resilient but uncertainty remains
After several rounds of Western sanctions, the Russian financial market fluctuated violently, the ruble depreciated rapidly, prices rose, and the supply chain became more unstable.
However, with the introduction of a series of countermeasures by the Russian side, the Russian economic order is currently generally stable.
The New York Times commented that in the face of severe Western sanctions, the Russian economy has shown amazing resilience.
However, analysts believe that there are still uncertainties in the Russian economy.
"The impact of the sanctions is not as severe as we feared, but it is too early to say that the full impact of the sanctions has been seen," said Nabiullina, the governor of the Russian central bank.
Less than four months after the imposition of broad sanctions and the withdrawal of many foreign companies from Russia, the full impact on the Russian economy is unclear, the Associated Press said.
On March 1, in the business hall of a local bank in Moscow, customers were waiting for business.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Bing
Cui Hongjian believes that "for the short-term goal of the West - forcing Russia's finances to dry up and unable to support its military operations, Russia has responded more effectively." But he also pointed out that "some sanctions have a lagging effect," Western sanctions on Russian technology , product export restrictions, in the long run, "will affect Russia's entire industrial system, including the military system."
Cui Hongjian pointed out, "Russia's economic prospects are also related to the sustainability of Western sanctions, and the full effect of Western sanctions on Russia remains to be observed." Zhao Junjie said, "The small economic aggregate and labor shortage are also one of the problems that Russia will face in the future. "(Finish)