Key Takeaways From President Putin's Speech at Eastern Economic Forum

Key Takeaways From President Putin's Speech at Eastern Economic Forum

Sputnik

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the plenary session of the 9th Eastern Economic Forum held at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.

The Far East has become Russia's stronghold in the new global economic reality, Vladimir Putin underscored in his speech at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The Russian president used the EEF platform on Thursday to touch upon a broad range of important global and domestic issues, clarifying his country's stance.

Russia has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine, but the West sabotaged a potential peace deal in early 2022, the Russian leader said at the EEF plenary session, referring to a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul in March 2022.

“We had practically achieved all the parameters of a possible peace agreement with representatives of the government in Kiev... But then Mr. [Boris] Johnson [then-UK prime minister] arrived and instructed the Ukrainians to fight to the last Ukrainian. Which is what we see today in an attempt to achieve Russia's strategic defeat. But that's not happening," Putin stated.

The agreement embraced everything from Ukraine’s obligations on a neutral, non-aligned status to its rejection of stationing foreign arms, including nuclear ones, on its territory. In late November 2023, Davyd Arakhamia, head of Ukraine's ruling Servant of the People party's faction in parliament and former chief negotiator with Russia, said Johnson was the person who talked Kiev out of signing an agreement with Moscow to end the conflict in the spring of 2022.

Putin said that Russia respects and welcomes the sincere interest of its friends and partners in resolving all issues related to the Ukraine conflict, “first of all, the People's Republic of China, Brazil, and India.”

The Russian Armed Forces must expel the enemy from the country's territory, with the liberation of Donbass being a top priority, he underscored. Russia will always protect its interests and the interests of people in Ukraine who are prepared to defend their right to speak the Russian language and respect their national traditions, Putin said.

Regarding the developments in Russia’s border region in Kursk, which witnessed an incursion by Kiev’s military on August 6, the president said Russian troops have accelerated their offensive operations, making significant gains, while the enemy is weakening in key areas.

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