Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin considered Friday that the United States sees itself as a "messenger of God on Earth."

During his speech at the plenary meeting of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, Putin said that "after claiming victory in the Cold War, the United States declared it was the messenger of God on Earth, who has no obligations, but only interests - and these interests are sacrosanct."

The Russian President pointed out that "the United States is ostensibly unaware that over the past decades new powerful centers have emerged around the globe and their voice is heard ever louder. Each of them is developing its own political system and public institutions and implements its own model of economic growth and, of course, has the right to protect them and to ensure national sovereignty."

Putin said that "we are witnessing objective processes and truly revolutionary tectonic changes" in the world.

Putin: US can steal money of other states at any moment

In the same context, Putin said the United States can steal other countries' money at any moment if it does not like something.

"[Money] can also be confiscated, stolen, if the United States does not like something in the policies of other states," he mentioned.

The Russian leader recalled that the US had long been a major supplier of food to the world market. However, Washington's role has dramatically changed today.

"[The US] has turned from an absolute exporter of food into a pure importer ... it prints money and draws commodity flows over themselves, buying food all over the world," he said.

EU completely lost its political sovereignty

The Russian President also indicated that economic mistakes are pushing Europe to deepen inequality, a surge of radicalism, and, eventually, a “change of elites."

Putin considered that all the current talks in the West about the so-called "Putin's inflation" were designed “for those who cannot read and write.”

He stressed that “the European Union has completely lost its political sovereignty, and its bureaucratic elites are dancing to someone else’s tune, accepting whatever they are told from above, causing harm to their own population and their own economy."

He believed that the policy of European authorities will deepen the split in the West not only on economic matters but also on its values system.

“Such a detachment from reality, from the demands of society, will inevitably lead to a surge of populism and the growth of radical movements, to serious social and economic changes, to degradation, and in the near future, to a change of elites,” Putin added.

Gloomy forecasts for Russian economy "did not come true"

The Russian President affirmed that gloomy Western forecasts about one US dollar selling for 200 rubles and the collapse of the Russian economy are part of information warfare that did not come true.

"All of this was and remains an instrument of information warfare, a factor of psychological pressure on the Russian society, on domestic business circles," Putin said.

He also slammed the Western sanctions on Russia as "insane and thoughtless," noting that their aim was to crush the Russian economy "in one fell swoop" by destroying business chains, forcing the withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market, freezing domestic assets, and hitting the industry, finance, and the standard of living of the Russian people.

"But they failed," Putin said, stressing that Moscow is working step by step to normalize the situation.

EU informally mulling sanctions on "inconvenient" states

Putin revealed that leaders of EU countries are discussing in informal conversations the possibility of applying sanctions to any "inconvenient" state, including its own member states.

"We know that among the leaders of European countries, at the level of informal conversations, very disturbing prospects are being discussed, like the ones that sanctions can be applied not only against Russia, but against any 'inconvenient' state, sooner or later, they can affect everyone, including themselves," Putin said.

According to experts, continued sanctions against Russia may cost the European Union over $400 billion in direct losses this year, the President added.

Goal to reach 4% inflation rate in Russia remains unchanged

The goal of achieving inflation of 4% in Russia remains unchanged, Putin said on Friday.

The Russian President stressed that "we will not repeat the sad experience of our Western colleagues, who unleashed an inflationary spiral and unbalanced their finances."

Putin denies Russia's role in Ukrainian grain issue

Russia welcomes the UN's call for dialogue on food security, he expressed in his speech.

As for the accusations by Western politicians that Moscow is to blame for the issue with Ukrainian grain deliveries, the Russian President stressed that Russia has never prevented Kiev from selling and transporting its grain to Europe.

He explained that "there are opportunities for export, and not only through the Black Sea ports. They can freely export through Belarus — the cheapest way, by the way — through Poland, Romania, as much as they like, there are five or six routes for export."

The issue lies with the Kiev regime, which should decide on the solution on its own, without listening to its "overseas masters", he added.

According to Putin, the most regretful option would be for Ukraine to export its grain in exchange for weapons.

Price growth & energy problems result of faulty US and EU policies

Price increases and problems in the energy sector are the results of faulty economic policies of the US and the EU, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed.

"Today's rise in prices, inflation, problems with food and fuel, gasoline, [problems] in the energy sector as a whole are the result of systemic mistakes in the economic policy of the current US administration and the European bureaucracy," he said.

West still treats some countries "as their colonies"

Putin acknowledged that the amount of the sanctions the US-led West imposed against Russia is record-setting.

"Their [sanctions] number and the speed at which they were churned out was never seen before. The idea obviously was to impudently crush the Russian economy," he noted.

The Russian leader considered that the West still treats countries outside the so-called golden billion "as their colonies, and the peoples living there are considered to be second-class individuals, because they [in the West] consider themselves exceptional."

Putin also explained that this is the essence of the West’s irrepressible desire to punish and economically crush those who break away from the fold and who refuse to submit, while shamelessly implanting their own ethics, cultural views, and vision of history.

"If some rebel cannot be pacified, they try to isolate him, and cancel him," he noted, adding that "this is the nature of the current bout of Russophobia in the West."

Deterioration of global economy not related to Russia’s operation

The deterioration of the global economy is not the issue of the past few months and is not related to Russia’s special military operation, Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

According to the Russian President, "The sharp surge of inflation on goods and commodities markets became a fact long before the developments of this year."

He added that "the world was steadily wedged into this situation by the long-standing irresponsible macroeconomic policy of the countries of the so-called Group of Seven, including uncontrolled issuance and the accumulation of unsecured debts."

West's blackmail of countries cooperating with Russia doesn’t work

Putin affirmed that the West’s blackmail of the countries cooperating with Russia doesn’t work against those of them that are led by strong leaders.

"It is no news to say that all who want to continue to work and are working with Russia are subject to open pressure from the United States and Europe. It sometimes comes to direct threats," he noted.

"But such blackmail means nothing against countries led by strong leaders, who can tell others’ interests from their countries’ own national interests," he said.

However, the Russian leader noted that Moscow "will cooperate with Western companies, which continue to operate successfully on the Russian market, despite the unprecedented arm-twisting."

West has been vacuuming up goods from poor countries

According to Putin, the West has been vacuuming up goods from the poorest countries, leaving behind just scraps.

"They [Western countries] literally began vacuuming up global markets, sucking them out, like a Hoover, while certainly, nobody thought or wanted to think about the interests of other countries, including the poorest ones."

According to the President, while US imports were about $250 billion a month at the end of 2019, now they have surged to $350 billion.

He explained that "it is evident that this dramatic increase in demand, which was not met by commodity supply, has triggered a wave of shortages and global inflation. In the last couple of years, almost everything in the world has become more expensive, namely raw materials, consumer goods, especially food."

Russia's operation in Ukraine based on right to defend security

The Russian leader stressed that Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is a decision by a sovereign country, based on the right to defend its security.

"In the current situation, against a backdrop of soaring risks and threats, Russia’s decision to conduct a special military operation was a forced one. It was very hard to make it, but it was forced and necessary. It was a decision by a sovereign country that has an unconditional right based on the UN Charter to defend its security," Putin stressed.

He affirmed that the operation was also "a decision aimed at protecting our citizens, the residents of the people's republics of Donbass, who had for eight years been exposed to genocide by the Kiev regime and the neo-Nazis, who enjoyed the full patronage of the West."

West emphatically refused to fulfill earlier obligations

Putin indicated that the West "not only sought to implement the 'anti-Russia' scenario, but also conducted an active military development of the Ukrainian territory. It literally pumped weapons and military advisers into Ukraine, and it continues to do this now."

He also noted that the modern world "is going through an era of fundamental changes."

"International institutions are collapsing and security guarantees are being devalued. The West has emphatically refused to fulfill its earlier obligations. It has turned out to be simply impossible to reach any new agreements with it," he concluded.