“If they want the fighting to stop in
Ukraine, stop supplying it with weapons. And these military actions will conclude in two or three months at most,” said Putin, who recalled the letter he sent to US President Joe Biden.Putin, who has a very limited ability to move due to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, has not faced uncomfortable questions from Western journalists since 2021. And as a setting he chose the San Francisco Economic Forum. Petersburg and one of the symbols of Russian developmentalism, the Lajta Center in Saint Petersburg, the tallest building in Europe and headquarters of the Russian gas giant, Gazprom.
“We have no imperial ambitions”
“To invent an adversary, the West must not think that Russia wants to rebuild an empire, because today’s Russia simply does not have that ambition,” Putin said. This blunt statement was in response to a question from a journalist from a Western news agency who was interested in knowing why the skyscraper of the giant Gazprom in Saint Petersburg is presided over, in addition to the flag of the Russian Federation, by that of the tsars and that of the Soviet Union. “It’s nothing political,” Putin said. “It was a decision by the company’s directors.”
Trump is innocent
While ensuring that he did not want to meddle in American politics, Putin did not hesitate to defend the innocence of Trump and once again ridiculed the claim that he is a spy in the Kremlin’s pay. “It is evident to everyone that the judicial persecution of Trumpwithout evidence, represents the use of the judicial system in the political struggle,” he stated.
Ukraine, peace my way
While ensuring that the Ukrainian leader,
Volodymyr Zelensky, who is an illegitimate interlocutor because his mandate expired on May 20, recalled that it was not Russia but the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who aborted the signing of the Istanbul treaty that would have ended the war a few weeks after. begin, in March 2022. “And I am sure, I have no doubt, that it had the support of the US Administration,” he stated, adding that the White House is not interested in Ukraine, but simply in maintaining its hegemony in the world.For this reason, he considered the supply to kyiv of precision and long-range weapons from NATO countries, as it will obstruct any semblance of peace by directly threatening Russian territory, “destroying international relations and undermining global security.” In fact, he warned that the Kremlin is considering an “asymmetric” response that could consist of the deployment of Russian missiles in regions where they could be used against “sensitive infrastructure” of the countries that arm kyiv.
Attacking NATO, nonsense
Throughout the interview it was clear that the NATO He is the culprit of all the evils for the Kremlinbut The Russian leader called a possible attack against an Alliance country “nonsense”. “Have you seen the potential of Russia and NATO? Do you think we are crazy?” He stated to the surprise of some of those present, who were expecting a more bellicose Kremlin chief.