Putin lambasts the West and declares the end of 'the era of the unipolar world'
Shafaq News/ Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared the end of "the era of the unipolar world" in a combative speech that lambasted Western countries at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
"When they won the Cold War, the US declared themselves God's own representatives on earth, people who have no responsibilities -- only interests. They have declared those interests sacred. Now it's one-way traffic, which makes the world unstable," Putin told the audience.
The much-hyped speech was delayed by more than 90 minutes because of a "massive" cyberattack. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in an impromptu conference call that the speech was postponed due to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the conference's systems.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Ukrainian IT Army, a hacker collective, named the St. Petersburg Forum as a target earlier this week on its Telegram channel.
Putin's speech at the annual conference in the western Russian city was seen as an opportunity for the world to get some insight into his thinking, some four months into his war on Ukraine.
Once the Russian president took the stage, he wasted no time on pleasantries and went straight into attacks on the United States and its allies.
"They live in the past on their own under their own delusions ... They think that ... they have won and then everything else is a colony, a back yard. And the people living there are second-class citizens," he said, adding that Russia's "special operation" -- the phrase the Russian government uses to describe its war on Ukraine -- has become a "lifesaver for the West to blame all the problems on Russia."
The long-time Russian leader also blamed the West for trying to hurt the Russian economy, calling the sanctions on Moscow "crazy" and "reckless."
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on June 17, 2022.
"Their intention is clear to crush the Russian economy by breaking down the chain the logistical chains, freezing national assets and attacking the living standards, but they were not successful," he added. "It has not worked out. Russian business people have rallied together working diligently, conscientiously, and step-by-step, we are normalizing the economic situation."
The Russian president has long framed his decision to launch an invasion of Ukraine as a response to Kyiv's growing diplomatic and security ties with the West. Last week, he hinted that his aim in Ukraine is the restoration of Russia as an imperial power.
The European Commission announced Friday that it was recommending Ukraine and neighboring Moldova as EU candidate states, with the commission's chief Ursula von der Leyen saying that Ukrainians are "ready to die" for the European perspective.
Speaking about the European Union on Friday, Putin said the bloc has "lost its sovereignty."
"The European Union has fully lost its sovereignty, and its elites are dancing to someone else's tune, harming their own population. Europeans' and European businesses' real interests are totally ignored and swept aside," he said.
Source: Reuters
