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Russian President Vladimir Putin told the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday that Europe's "shortsighted" bureaucratic policy was undermining global security and accelerating the erosion of the continent's economic standing.
He asserted that Russia's economy had not collapsed and that the world was irreversibly shifting toward a multipolar order centered on BRICS nations.
Putin said the world was witnessing shocks in energy markets, rising tension in the Middle East and a pattern of European conduct he characterized as counterproductive.
"We see the shocks energy markets are experiencing, the tension being provoked in regions like the Middle East, and the shortsighted policies of European bureaucracy," Putin said, noting, "this aggressive rhetoric is causing Europe to lose its footing in the global economy while undermining both regional and international security."
He added that the European elites are "provoking chaos, into which they are trying to drag new countries," saying that the current global paradigm was shifting away from a limited number of power centers toward a more distributed and multipolar system, including through the rise of the Global South.
Putin cited economic data to support his argument that the center of gravity of the world economy had moved. He said BRICS nations had accounted for half of all annual global economic growth over the past five years, with BRICS' share of world GDP by purchasing power parity exceeding 40%, surpassing the G7, which he said stands at under 29%.
He said BRICS trade had doubled in five years and continued to grow, and that the global trading system was "ceasing to be West-centric."
Putin also warned that all countries risk losing assets held in dollars and euros at any moment. "The reasons can be different, they will always be found," he said, adding that this dynamic was pushing countries to shift to settlements in national currencies. He said the ruble's share in Russian export transactions had reached 65%.
He named China as Russia's strategic partner and said China leads the world in artificial intelligence patents, while India is a leader in the IT industry.
Addressing Western characterizations of Russia's economic performance, Putin dismissed claims that the economy had fallen apart.
"We, of course, hear criticism from all sides that everything has collapsed ... We have descended to the same level at which Eurozone countries have been experiencing growth for the past few years," he said, adding Russia was pursuing a "sovereign" economy.
Putin said the country's GDP grew 0.2% in January through April, its industrial production increased despite challenges, and inflation was continuing to decline, approaching 5.2%.
He stated that Russia had the lowest unemployment rate among developed countries at 2.2%, and that real wages had grown more than 30% over five years.
He said sovereign economic development required the widespread adoption of advanced technologies to raise labor productivity, and warned that countries without sovereign technologies risked falling under external control. "Foreign services may seem convenient, but the price of dependence will eventually become apparent," he said.
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