Putin shrugs off sanctions as stupid and ineffective

President Vladimir Putin has told an economic forum that Russia has not lost anything from the war in Ukraine, defiantly declaring it impossible to isolate his nation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Picture: AFP

President Vladimir Putin boasted on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine would only strengthen Russia and dismissed western sanctions as stupid and ineffective.

“Russia has resisted the economic, financial and technological aggression of the West,” Mr Putin told an economic forum in Vladivostok, in Russia’s far east.

“We have not lost anything and will not lose anything. In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty. No matter how much some might like to isolate Russia, it is impossible to do this.”

Mr Putin also said that the war would rid Russia of destructive elements. “There has been a certain polarisation in the world and inside the country, but I view it as a positive thing,” he said. “Everything that is unnecessary, harmful and everything that prevents us from moving forward will be rejected.”

Mr Putin, a former KGB officer, has previously described domestic critics of the war in Ukraine as “traitors” and “scum” who will be “spat out” during a period of national “purification”.

He also said that a plan by the G7 nations to impose a price cap on Russian oil sales was doomed to failure. “It’s sheer nonsense,” he said. “The demand is so high on global markets that we won’t have any problem selling it.”

Russia has spent about £86bn ($147bn) on the war since ordering tanks into Ukraine in February but earned pounds $241bn from oil, gas and coal sales in that period, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish think tank, has reported.

Mr Putin said closer ties with China and other Asian countries would bring “colossal opportunities for our people”. He is due to meet President Xi Jinping of China in Uzbekistan next week at the annual conference of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, an eight-member bloc that also contains India and Pakistan, as well as former Soviet states in central Asia. Mr Putin was joined in Vladivostok by Li Zhanshu, a senior Chinese official, and General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the junta in Myanmar.

Mr Putin’s assessment of the conflict in Ukraine ignored massive Russian military losses. The United States estimates that 80,000 Russian soldiers have been injured or killed since February. The average age of the fatalities is believed to be 21. Russia has admitted “significant” losses but has not updated its casualty figures since March, when it said 1351 Russian soldiers had been killed.

This week the Kremlin stepped up its efforts to influence young people. Schools introduced lessons aimed at reinforcing Mr Putin’s views on Ukraine and the West. Children as young as nine are being taught that “the happiness of the motherland is more precious than life”. In a video from an unnamed school that was posted to social media, pupils dressed in military uniforms chanted: “Love is sacrifice.”

– The Times