Putin: Main Guarantee of Russia’s Sovereignty and Security is Growth of Its Economy and Defense Potential

Russia will expand economic and trade cooperation with all foreign partners. This policy will further strengthen the position of the Russian Federation at the global level. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this in his keynote speech delivered at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a port city on the Pacific Ocean. “We will expand the ties of the Russian Far East, our entire country with foreign partners, with friendly countries, with states and companies that are interested in reliable, long-term, and mutually beneficial cooperation, and therefore we will continue to strengthen Russia’s position in the world,” emphasized the Russian head of state, according to whom “global trade ties and trade routes are increasingly moving towards the East and South of the world.”

According to Putin, Russia’s further development “largely depends on the development of the Far Eastern region,” which accounts for 40% of the entire Russian territory. According to the Russian president, the Far East “represents a huge space for the implementation of business endeavors, from the launch of new innovative projects to the formation of entire new industries.” The day before, Putin took part in the commissioning of three modern plants that will replace some of the products that in the past the country had to import from abroad. Putin recalled that despite the hostile policy of the West, Russia’s economic growth reached 4.6 percent in the first half of 2024.

Russia’s Far Eastern regions also provide direct access to promising markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The President added that the Russian government is “working intensively to improve the ‘climate’ for business, to improve the business environment throughout Russia and its eastern territories in particular, particuarly particularly for foreign investors.”

“The Eastern Economic Forum has become a platform recognized in Russia and the world for establishing strong trade and economic contacts, discussing strategic issues of development of the Russian Far East and the entire Asia-Pacific region,” Putin said, recalling that during the meeting over the past three years on the sidelines of the three previous Eastern Forums, “more than 1000 agreements worth more than 10.5 trillion rubles (about $119 billion) were concluded.”

Russia’s energy security and sovereignty is a particularly important issue for Putin. “We must ensure the country’s energy sovereignty, form a sustainable basis for uninterrupted supply of raw materials and fuel at affordable prices to our regions, cities, and territories,” Putin said. As for the Far East, the president expressed hope for the development and implementation of a new program to modernize power plants and build infrastructure for electricity transmission. “This program,” the Russian leader said, “will help the Far East eliminate power shortages that could slow down the region’s economic development.” Putin also suggested evaluating the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Far Eastern region.

A particularly important aspect for the economic development of the northern territories and the Russian Far East is related to the increase in cargo traffic along the “Arctic route” – from the Kara Sea to the Bering Strait. The Russian President emphasized that Russia will continue to increase the capacity of Russian ports along the entire Arctic route: “I would like to emphasize that at the end of last year the throughput capacity of Russian ports within the borders of the Arctic route exceeded 40 million tons. Of course, we believe that this is just the beginning, and we will continue to increase their capacity, modernize cargo transshipment, and expand the short- and long-distance railway system,” Putin added.

Responding to questions about the armed conflict with Ukraine, Putin said that Russia has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine, but is not ready to conduct negotiations on the basis of “ephemeral requests.” Putin emphasized that peace talks should be held “on the basis of documents agreed and de facto signed in Istanbul.” The President thanked the countries of the world that are sincerely interested in resolving the Ukrainian conflict: “It’s mainly China, Brazil, and India,” Putin said. Regarding Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Putin said Russia had managed to “decipher” Kiev’s intention to provoke the movement of Russian troops from Donbass toward the Kursk region. This has not happened, and the Russian offensive to “liberate Donbass” is accelerating, and Ukrainian soldiers will be expelled from Russia: “The sacred duty of the Russian army is to do everything to expel the enemy from our territory,” the Russian President said, praising the successes of the Russian army’s “central and eastern grouping” in the area of the special military operation. “Our troops have accelerated offensives, there have not been such major territorial gains for a long time,” Putin said, laying the blame for the continued fighting on the West and in particular on former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

According to Putin, back in 2022, Russia managed to reach an agreement with Ukraine during talks in Istanbul, Turkey: “We were able to come to an agreement, that’s what it’s all about. This is confirmed by the signature of the head of the Ukrainian delegation who signed this document, which means that the Ukrainian side is generally satisfied with the agreements reached,” Putin said. The president recalled that the agreement did not enter into force only because Ukraine “received a command not to do so.” “The elites of the USA, Europe, and some European countries had a desire to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia, which will never be possible,” the Russian president said.

The topic of Russia’s international cooperation with friendly countries of the world was continued at the plenary session by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s speech, renewing the Asian country’s request to join the BRICS group as soon as possible. “Malaysia has serious intentions to join BRICS. In this way, we want to diversify our economic diplomacy efforts and significantly strengthen our political, economic, and trade ties with all BRICS member countries,” said the Malaysian Prime Minister, who during talks with Putin on September 4 gratefully accepted an invitation to attend the BRICS summit scheduled for October 22-24 in Kazan, Russia.