MOSCOW: The president spoke about strengthening the economy and developing the country under sanctions at the RSPP congress
The Russian president spoke at the plenary session of the RSPP congress, touching on relations with the West and the United States an hour before talking with American leader Donald Trump.
Vladimir Putin's statements about relations with the West, sanctions, and the fact that Russia, no matter what, must ensure its own sovereignty. Only it is the key to development and resistance to external pressure. And the West, according to the president, will continue to put pressure on us one way or another.
Vladimir Putin called on businesses not to count on the lifting of restrictions. Our task is to strengthen the economy in the current conditions. How exactly - was discussed at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
The President's speech to the participants of the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs this time was shorter than ever. Immediately after it, Vladimir Putin had to talk with Trump. But the Russian leader, of course, could not help but comment on what is being discussed in the business community today. And the main thing is the full or partial lifting of sanctions.
"I know that business expert circles are currently actively discussing the issue of what will happen next with the illegitimate sanctions against Russia, our companies, citizens: will they be lifted, left, strengthened, and so on. I, dear friends and colleagues, propose that we proceed from the following considerations. Sanctions are not temporary or targeted measures, they are a mechanism of systemic, strategic pressure on our country. And no matter how the situation develops, no matter what the system of international relations is, our competitors will always strive to contain our country, to weaken its economic and technological capabilities. Moreover, if earlier the so-called Western elites tried to give this opposition at least some semblance of decency, now it seems they do not need to be embarrassed, they are not going to be embarrassed,” the Russian leader said.
The Ministry of Finance has already calculated that the West has imposed 28,595 sanctions against Russian companies and citizens. This is several times more than against any country in the world. And of course, one should not count on their complete cancellation.
“Even if there is some kind of gesture from the other side, one can expect that another way will be found to put a spoke in the wheel, as was the case with the well-known Jackson-Vanik amendment. Sanctions, restrictions are the reality of today’s new stage of development, which the entire world, the entire world economy has entered. Global competition has intensified and is becoming increasingly sophisticated and at the same time irreconcilable. Thus, literally before our eyes, a new spiral of economic rivalry is unfolding, and in these conditions it is even awkward to recall the norms and rules of the World Trade Organization, which were once actively promoted by the West. Once. When? When these rules were beneficial to them. As soon as they became unprofitable, everything immediately began to change. And all these negotiations are stalled. And in fact, no one needs them,” the president emphasized.
It will not be like before, the head of state states. Freedom of capital movement is a thing of the past. But Russian business has managed to switch to new sales markets. There are enough of them in the world. An example of this is the interaction of the countries of the global south within the BRICS. And the eurozone economy is sliding into recession.
“In 2024, the eurozone's GDP growth was 0.9%. The “Big Seven” - why is it “big”, it is not clear what is big there? Wherever you look, you can’t see it on the map. So this “Seven” has 1.9% growth, and BRICS has 4.9%. In Russia, for two years in a row - last year and the year before - 4.1%,” Putin noted.
What to expect from the new telephone conversation between Putin and Trump and the content of the meetings with special envoy Witkoff, was told by the special representative of the president, Kirill Dmitriev, a participant in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
“We held a number of meetings with the special representative of the president, Stephen Witkoff. And what we see is that the administration of the president Trump is focused on dialogue, on finding solutions. A lot of people are trying to disrupt this dialogue - both in the deep state and other opponents of Russia, but we certainly hope that this dialogue and the search for solutions prevail,” - the chief executive officer of the RDIF.
Representatives of the government and the presidential administration were asked about expectations from the conversation between Putin and Trump today.
“I would like to see how the situation develops, then we can talk about something. But we live in our own agenda based on those programs, those macroeconomic approaches that our government forms, approved by the president together with the Central Bank. Therefore, we will monitor the situation,” said First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov.
As the head of the RSPP Alexander Shokhin formulated, the main question that the participants of the congress tried to find an answer to is how to find a golden mean between controlled compression and supercooling of the Russian economy. According to the president, it should not be in a cryochamber. And Vladimir Putin spoke about this until three o'clock in the morning with his assistant Maxim Oreshkin. Another topic that is being actively discussed in the business community is the possible return of Western companies to the Russian market.
"The interests of Russian companies, enterprises, and their employees will always be a priority for us. It is from this position that we will consider the issue of returning foreign business to our market. If the niches of Western companies are already occupied by Russian business, then, as I said earlier, and our people say, the train has left. There will be no privileges and preferences for those returning. At the same time, Russia remains an open country. Whoever wants to return - let them return on a competitive basis within the framework of our legal field," the Russian leader said.
Russia respects the choice of the company. Those who continued to work despite criticism of their own government, albeit with a change of sign with others, those who demonstratively slammed the door and sold the business for a pittance - in each individual case, the price of the issue is its own.
"I understand that some Western owners were scared, did not find the strength to contradict their political authorities, this explains their behavior. But in case the wind changed, they still left a loophole for themselves - they retained the right to buy the business back, provided options. I ask the government to closely monitor this situation and similar transactions, so that it does not turn out that the owners sold the business in Russia at a throwaway price, essentially leaving it to its fate, and now want to buy the asset back, but for the same modest money. It should not be like this, it does not happen. The market situation is different, the companies have strengthened, increased their capitalization, and are already worth differently. Each such transaction will require separate careful consideration," the president said.
The President's Special Representative for Investment Cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, proposed creating joint ventures with the Americans. For example, in the field of space exploration.
"We also discussed with Dmitry Bakanov, the new head of Roscosmos, the idea of working with the Americans in the space direction. And our ideas about working together with Musk are not just ideas about Mars, but the presence of very powerful competencies in both Roscosmos and Rosatom," said Kirill Dmitriev, the President's Special Representative for Economic and Investment Cooperation Abroad and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
The backstage of the congress is a unique opportunity to get first-hand comments. In anticipation of the telephone conversation between Putin and Trump, the ruble has strengthened sharply. This means that revenues from oil and gas exports to the Russian budget will decrease. Although Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, apparently, is not inclined to associate exchange rate fluctuations with geopolitics.
The next meeting of the Central Bank will take place this Friday. Recently, a new term has entered the lexicon of Russian companies - redomiciliation. This is what they call a change of company registration, for example, from the Netherlands to Russian jurisdiction. But Vladimir Putin, on the contrary, criticized Western funds.
"As the main character of "Kalina Krasnaya" said: "Money is burning my thigh." They are lying somewhere in such, excuse my tone, dodgy jurisdictions - what to do with them, what will happen to them. Everyone is thinking about it. Everyone is thinking about it, but you know it well. Everyone is thinking about what will happen to these funds, but what good is there, they freeze everything there, they take everything away there. It is rude, uncivilized, I am not even talking about some legal systems - they do not exist at all. They exist there only for themselves. I have noticed this in the political sphere for a long time," Putin said.
The main thing is that the Russian economy must enter a trajectory of sustainable growth. This requires structural changes and increased labor productivity. Vladimir Putin promised to hold a substantive discussion on this topic during a closed meeting with members of the RSPP bureau, which unites 90 major industrialists.
Add comment
Comments