The era of the unipolar world order has ended, and the fear of competition has led the West to "thoughtless and insane" sanctions against Moscow. This is how Vladimir Putin described the current situation in the world, speaking at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. According to him, Russia is confidently coping with new challenges, but some goals in the economy have not yet been achieved. What exactly are the goals in question and what needs to be done to achieve them?
"Houses are safer"
Domestic businesses should invest in Russia. Such a call was made on Friday in a speech by President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). "It is necessary to invest at home, in your native country," the head of state said. And he added: "And our task is to ensure the security of these investments, we will do so."
The topic of state guarantees and economic relief for our entrepreneurs who found themselves in a difficult situation due to sanctions was one of the main topics in the President's speech. "There is every reason to take another cardinal step forward: to permanently, permanently abandon the majority of inspections of all Russian businesses whose activities are not associated with high risks of harm," Putin said.
According to the President, the creation and maintenance of a favorable business climate should encourage entrepreneurs to invest "in the creation of new enterprises and jobs, in the development of tourism infrastructure," invest in schools, universities, healthcare and social services, culture and sports.
"I know that many people do this, I know, I just want to emphasize it once again," Putin said. The president urged other businessmen to follow the example of pre–revolutionary Russian merchants and industrialists - the Bakhrushins, Morozovs, Ryabushinskys, Savva Mamontov, Pavel Tretyakov and others, "who did not offend direct heirs, and forever inscribed their name in the history of our country."
"For the heirs, the possible heirs of capital, it is still unknown what is more important: the money they have inherited, property or the good name and merits of their ancestors before the country," Putin said. – And no one will squander it for sure, sorry for the bad manners, no one will drink it." A good name, the President noted, is something that "will remain with future generations of heirs forever."
The head of state also stressed that investing "at home is more reliable." "Those who did not want to hear this obvious message lost hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in the West. This turned out to be a supposedly quiet haven for capital. Once again I want to tell my colleagues: please don't step on the old rake!" – advised the president.
"Will everything be the same as before? It won't"
Russian business and society as a whole are going through a difficult moment. Putin noted that the 25th St. Petersburg Economic Forum is taking place at a time "when the economy, markets and the very principles of the global economic system were under attack."
The President recalled that, speaking at the Davos Forum a year and a half ago, he pointed out that the era of the unipolar world order has ended, "despite all attempts to preserve it, preserve it by any means." The flaw was laid in the very idea of a unipolar world, the head of state explained, in the idea "according to which there is one, albeit a strong power with a limited circle of close or, as they say, states admitted to it."
If all the norms of international political and economic relations are interpreted in the interests of one power and "the game goes to one gate," then the world based on such dogmas is "definitely unstable." According to the President, this is exactly the situation that has taken place in recent decades,
when "the United States, having declared victory in the cold war, declared themselves the messengers of the Lord on earth, who have no obligations, but only interests, and these interests are declared sacred."
The United States ignores the fact that new geopolitical and economic centers have formed on the planet, the president stated. "We are talking about objective processes, about truly revolutionary, tectonic changes in geopolitics, the global economy, in the technological sphere, in the entire system of international relations, where the role of dynamic, promising states and regions, whose interests can no longer be ignored, is significantly increasing," Putin said. The President of Russia is sure that it is a mistake to believe that the time of rapid changes can be "to sit out, to wait out, that supposedly everything will return to normal, everything will be as before." "It won't," the head of state assured.
"We fix everything step by step"
The growing threat of competition awakens in Western countries "an irrepressible desire to punish, economically crush those who stand out from the general row, do not want to blindly obey," Putin said. According to him, "if some rebel cannot be subdued, subdued, then they try to isolate him or, as they say now, "cancel" him. This, the president is sure, is "the nature of both the current attack of Russophobia in the West and the insane sanctions against Russia." "Crazy and, I would say, thoughtless," Putin added.
He stressed that the pressure on Russia began even before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. But the calculation of "hurriedly, with a rush to crush the Russian economy" did not come true. "We are strong people and can cope with any challenge. Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem. The entire thousand–year history of our country speaks about this," the President stressed.
Russian business and government worked together, professionally, citizens showed solidarity and responsibility. As a result, the catastrophic forecasts about the collapse of the economy, about the dollar for 200 rubles, etc. turned out to be fiction.
"We are normalizing the economic situation step by step," the president said. Financial markets, the banking system, and retail chains have been stabilized. The economy was saturated with working capital to preserve the sustainability of enterprises and companies, employment and jobs.
In a situation of unprecedented sanctions pressure from outside, the country's budget "was executed with a surplus of 1.5 trillion rubles, and the consolidated budget – with a surplus of 3.3 trillion rubles," Putin said. "At the same time, the federal budget surplus in May alone amounted to almost half a trillion rubles, exceeding last year's May value by more than four times," the head of state added.
"Literally three months after the massive package of sanctions, we have suppressed the inflationary surge," Putin said. – After a peak of 17.8%, as you know, now inflation is 16.7% and continues to decline. Economic dynamics are stabilizing, public finances are stable." Later in his speech, the president made a comparison with the growth of inflation in individual eurozone countries, which exceeded 20%. "I was talking about our inflation, but the eurozone countries do not conduct any special military operations, and inflation has increased there," Putin said.
"Yes, of course, inflation in Russia is also still at double–digit levels," the president admitted. But, he pointed out, at the same time, the authorities have already indexed social payments and pensions, increased the minimum wage and the living wage, "thereby protecting the least well-off citizens." High interest rates allowed citizens to keep their savings in banks, the head of state added.
"Of course, it is clear for business representatives: a high key rate presses down the economy," Putin said. But, he added, "for citizens, after all, in most cases, this is a plus: they returned a significant amount of money to banks at a high interest rate."
A change of elites is coming in Europe
The situation in Russia is strikingly different from the situation in a number of EU countries, where rising inflation directly leads to a decrease in real incomes of the population and "eats up" their savings, Putin said. In his opinion, inequality in the EU countries will split their society even more – the issue is not only in the welfare of citizens, but also in the value orientations of groups.
"Such a separation from reality, from the demands of society, will inevitably lead to a surge of populism and the growth of extreme, radical trends, to serious socio-economic changes, to degradation, and in the near future to a change of elites," the president said. – Traditional parties, as you can see, lose constantly. There are some new formations, but if they differ little from the traditional ones, they also have little chance of survival."
According to Putin, "all the talk about allegedly acceptable costs in the name of pseudo–unity" of Europe cannot hide the main thing - the EU "has finally lost its political sovereignty, and its bureaucratic elites are dancing to someone else's tune, accepting everything they are told from above, harming their own population and their own economy, their own business.
"What does our operation in Donbass have to do with it?"
The president also touched on the so–called "Putin's inflation" in the West - a term used by foreign elites to justify rising fuel prices and increasing utility bills in their countries. "Today's price increases, inflation, problems with food and fuel, gasoline, in the energy sector in general are the result of systemic errors in the economic policy of the current US administration and the European bureaucracy. That's where the reasons are, and only in this," the president stressed.
As for Europe, according to Putin, a failed energy policy, a blind bet on renewable sources and spot supplies of natural gas made an additional negative contribution to the unwinding of prices. "This led to a sharp increase in the cost of energy, which has been observed since the third quarter of last year – I repeat again, long before the start of our operation in Donbass. We have absolutely nothing to do with it. They themselves have done things there, prices have skyrocketed, and they are looking for the guilty again," the Russian president complained.
Putin stressed that a sharp increase in inflation in commodity and commodity markets became a fact long before the events of this year. "The world has been consistently driven into such a situation by the long–term irresponsible macroeconomic policies of the so-called Big Seven countries, including uncontrolled emission and accumulation of unsecured debts," he said.
In this regard, Putin pointed out that Russia will prioritize food assistance to those countries where the need for food is highest and where there are risks of an increase in the number of hungry people – first of all, Africa and the Middle East. "By the way, the Americans imposed sanctions on our fertilizers, followed by the Europeans. Then the Americans took it and canceled it – they realized where they were. But the Europeans are not. Their bureaucracy just works like a millstone in an eighteenth-century mill. Therefore, everyone understands that they did a stupid thing, but it is already difficult to unscrew it back for bureaucratic reasons," he said.
As for the West's speculations about Ukrainian food supplies to world markets, Putin pointed out that Russia does not prevent this in any way. "We didn't mine the Black Sea ports of Ukraine. Let them mine and take them out. We will ensure the safety of the wiring of these civilian vessels," the Russian president assured.
At the same time, he noted that Ukraine now has about 5 million tons of wheat and 7 million tons of corn. "And if we keep in mind that 800 million tons of wheat are produced in the world, then 5 million tons for the world market, as you understand, do not make any weather at all," Putin said.
Principles of Russia's development
Russia's goal is to build an economy with full, not partial, production, personnel and scientific potential and sovereignty. And the current tests, according to the head of state, only make adjustments to these plans, but do not change their strategic orientation. In this regard, Putin announced the principles based on which comprehensive sovereignty will be achieved.
"The first is openness. Truly sovereign States are always committed to an equal partnership, to contribute to global development. Russia – despite the fact that our Western, so to speak, friends literally dream about it – will never follow the path of self–isolation and autarky," the president assured.
At the same time, according to him, Russia will develop not only international trade, but also intends to increase scientific, technological, cultural, humanitarian and sports cooperation on the principles of equality and respect for partners. The country will strive for responsible leadership in all these areas, Putin stressed.
"The second principle of our long–term development is the reliance on entrepreneurial freedoms. Every private initiative aimed at the benefit of Russia should receive maximum support and space for implementation," the head of state said. He promised to further reduce the administrative burden on business, noting positive results after reducing the number of inspections.
The next basis for Russia's development is a responsible and balanced macroeconomic policy, which allowed the country to withstand the sanctions pressure, Putin noted. "Our goal is the steady development of the economy for years to come, reducing the inflationary burden on citizens and businesses, achieving the target inflation rate of 4% in the medium and long term," the president said.
The fourth principle of development is social justice. "The growth of the economy and business initiative, industrial opportunities and scientific and technological potential of the country should have a powerful social embodiment," Putin said. According to him, this includes targeted support for pensioners, families with children, as well as those who are in a difficult life situation, an increase in the number of jobs, an increase in pensions, the minimum wage, as well as the subsistence minimum, which is tied to other social benefits and payments – this directly affects the income of about 15 million people.
"Another fifth principle on which Russia builds its economic policy is the advanced development of infrastructure. We have already increased direct budget expenditures to strengthen transport arteries. Next year, a large-scale plan for the construction and repair of the backbone network of federal and regional highways will start. In five years, at least 85% of its length should be brought into a normative state," Putin recalled.
Russia is developing logistics and cooperation ties, increasing the capacity of railways, transshipment capacities of ports in the Arctic, in the eastern, southern and other directions. "Including in the Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins, they will become the most important part of the North–South corridor, which will provide stable communication channels with the Middle East and South Asia," the head of state detailed.
Such a tool as infrastructure budget loans is also actively used. "In order for the domestic business to quickly expand the production of the necessary products, I propose to launch a fundamentally new tool – an industrial mortgage. We are talking about preferential long–term loans at a rate of 5% per annum," the head of state said.
Summing up, the President noted that the implementation of the principles listed by him should make Russia stronger. "The rules of the content of the new world order will be set by strong, sovereign states – who are not moving along the trajectory already outlined by someone. Only strong states and sovereign ones can have their say in this emerging world order, or are doomed to become or remain a powerless colony," Putin concluded.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov
