However, Russia currently has no problems selling natural gas around the world. “Everyone buys it,” Putin said.
The Russian President has once again defended the war in Ukraine as allegedly necessary to protect Russia. “I can say that the main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty – and that is an inevitable result of what is happening right now,” Putin said. Referring to the war, he added: “We haven’t lost anything and won’t lose anything.”
Russian troops invaded Ukraine at the end of February. At the time, Putin justified the war, which in Russia is simply referred to as a “special military operation,” with the alleged “liberation” of Ukraine from nationalists, among other things. In addition, Moscow repeatedly claims that Ukraine would otherwise have attacked Russia. Putin made similar comments on Wednesday, saying: “After many attempts to solve this problem peacefully, Russia decided to respond to the actions of our potential enemy in a mirror-inverted manner: by armed means. We did it consciously.”
Putin has denied allegations that his country is violating international law. Putin reiterated his view that the Ukrainian government is an “illegitimate regime”. It came to power after a coup in 2014. Eight years ago, the pro-Russian President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown in the course of mass protests. At the forum he also said that conflicts in the world are often not resolved by peace because international law is repeatedly disregarded and spoke out in favor of a “fairer” world.
Representatives from China, Myanmar, Mongolia and Armenia at the forum
“Our president will be attending the forum all day on September 7, which means he will hold bilateral meetings with the participating leaders,” said Yuri Ushakov, the president’s assistant. He further explained that the foreign guests are representatives from Myanmar, Armenia, Mongolia and China. This is reported by the Interfax news agency. Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the event in Vladivostok.
The Kremlin chief, who is seeking closer ties with Asian countries in the face of Western sanctions, welcomed the increasing importance of countries from the Asia-Pacific region. Closer cooperation with these countries offers “huge new opportunities”.
More than six months ago, Putin ordered a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine. The USA, the EU and other Western countries have therefore imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia.