Vladimir Putin has joked that he will take the West’s demands seriously.
London:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday joked that he would have a serious conversation with the West that he was responsible for the conflict in Ukraine and all the economic chaos sown by the West’s cripple sanctions.
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced 14 million people, while Western attempts to isolate Russia as punishment and blockade of Moscow’s grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea port have pushed up prices of oil, natural gas, grain, cooking oil and fertilizer. Flying
In a televised address at Sochi’s Black Sea resort, Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that Russia’s economy was doing well despite Western sanctions.
Lukashenko said the sanctions had prompted both countries to focus on self-development and that Western elites were confused about the cause of their economic problems.
“In economics, thanks really to them (to the West) because they have pushed for our own development,” Lukashenko told Putin, who laughed and shook his head.
“What’s happening there is that they’ve read their own media and really underestimated it. They’ve got inflation, yet the truth is ‘Putin is being blamed’, ‘Putin is responsible for everything’,” Lukashenko said.
Putin pursed his lips and shook his head.
“We will have a serious discussion with them,” Putin said with a laugh.
Lukashenko laughed and said “yes”.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)
