EEF 2023 plenary session: the main points from Vladimir Putin’s speech

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the VIII Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. The forum takes place in Vladivostok on September 10-13. Its motto is “Towards Cooperation, Peace and Prosperity”. Vedomosti cites Putin’s main statements at the EEF plenary meeting.

The President said that the global economy has changed and continues to change. This is happening because Western countries, according to Putin, are destroying the system of trade, financial and economic ties. At the same time, the space for business cooperation is expanding and countries that follow their national interests are becoming its participants.

For them, the main thing is to promote their own projects in the energy, industry, humanitarian sphere, etc., Putin said. He concludes that a new model of relationships is being born not for a select few, but for all of humanity and the entire multipolar world. And in this context, openness becomes a key factor in the Asia-Pacific market.

Putin recalled that 10 years ago, in his address to the Federal Assembly, he said that the rapid development of the Far Eastern regions is Russia’s priority for the 21st century. The growth of investment in the Far Eastern regions over the past ten years has amounted to 39%, the pace of development here is higher than the Russian average, the president noted. In addition, the president emphasized that the percentage of subsoil exploration in the Far East is only 35%. Therefore, there is a possibility of multiple growth in the extractive industries, Putin said.

The President proposed raising the upper limit for Far Eastern mortgages, which are issued at 2%, to 9 million rubles, and also extending it not only to teachers and doctors, as it is now, but also to employees of military-industrial complex enterprises who work in the Far East.

Russia plans to connect the Power of Siberia and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipelines, and after that include them in the country’s unified gas supply system, the president said. According to him, this will allow the gas transmission networks of the West and East of Russia to be integrated into one system. This will allow us to expand the gasification program for the Trans-Baikal Territory, Buryatia and other regions of the Far East. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak wrote about this goal on September 6 in the Energy Policy magazine.

Putin, in response to this question, recalled that 300,000 people were drafted into the Russian Armed Forces last fall through partial mobilization, while in the last 6-7 months alone, 270,000 people voluntarily signed contracts for military service. Putin noted that people do this “consciously and voluntarily,” realizing that they could lose their lives in order to protect the interests of the Motherland. According to him, military personnel “know that they have someone to protect.” The President emphasized that Russia “protects our people.”

The President believes that the anti-war statement of Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh is connected with the desire to live well in Israel and have good relations with local authorities. “I sat and was silent for a long time, then I decided to make a statement. Well, God bless him, let him live well there,” Putin said. The head of state believes that a person who has become successful in something should have a “sense of conscience” in relation to the country that “gave him everything.” Commenting on the emigration of the ex-head “Rusnano“Anatoly Chubais, Putin suggested that he “fled” because of a “huge financial hole” in the state corporation.

The offensive actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not bring any results to Kyiv, the president is sure. The losses of Ukrainian army personnel, according to Putin, since the beginning of the counteroffensive have reached 71,500 people. According to him, when analyzing the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, one gets the impression that these are “not their people at all, whom they are throwing into this counter-offensive.” If Washington believes that Kyiv is ready for negotiations with Moscow, the head of state noted, then let it cancel the decree of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on refusal of negotiations with Russia.

Moscow does not have any problems with Yerevan or with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Putin emphasized. At the same time, the unstable situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is connected primarily with Yerevan’s recognition of Baku’s sovereignty over this territory. “If Armenia recognized that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, then what is it all about?” – the president believes.

The future of the country depends only on the Russians themselves, Putin said. Russia, he said, should be self-sufficient, but this does not mean isolating the country. “This means that we, in cooperation with our partners and friends, in integration with the vast majority of countries <...> We will develop our own country and make it even stronger,” he said.