MESSAGES FROM PUTIN & LAVROV

"Now everybody knows that financial reserves can simply be stolen"

March 16 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t mince his words at the conclusion of a meeting today in the Kremlin on socioeconomic support for Russia’s regions. Directly addressing people in the West, Putin said:

“I want ordinary Western people to hear me, too. You are being persistently told that your current difficulties are the result of Russia’s hostile actions and that you have to pay for the efforts to counter the alleged Russian threat from your own pockets. All of that is a lie.

“The truth is that the problems faced by millions of people in the West are the result of many years of actions by the ruling elite of your respective countries, their mistakes, and short-sighted policies and ambitions. This elite is not thinking about how to improve the lives of their citizens in Western countries. They are obsessed with their own self-serving interests and super profits....

“To reiterate, the whole planet is now paying for the West’s ambitions and the West’s attempts to maintain its elusive dominance by any means possible.

“Imposing sanctions is the logical continuation and the distillation of the irresponsible and short-sighted policy of the U.S. and EU countries’ governments and central banks. They themselves have driven up global inflation in recent years, and with their actions caused rising global poverty and greater inequality across the world. The question now arises—who will answer for the millions who will die of hunger in the world’s poorest countries due to growing food shortages?

“Let me reiterate, the global economy and global trade as a whole have suffered a major blow, as did trust in the U.S. dollar as the main reserve currency.

“The illegitimate freezing of some of the currency reserves of the Bank of Russia marks the end of the reliability of so-called first-class assets. In fact, the U.S. and the EU have defaulted on their obligations to Russia. Now everybody knows that financial reserves can simply be stolen. And many countries in the immediate future may begin—I am sure this is what will happen—to convert their paper and digital assets into real reserves of raw materials, land, food, gold and other real assets which will only result in more shortages in these markets....

“Here is what I would like to point out. We must clearly understand that a new package of sanctions and restrictions would have been imposed on us no matter what. I want to emphasize this. For the West, our military operation in Ukraine is just a pretext for imposing more sanctions on us....

“To reiterate, these are just pretexts. The policy of containing and weakening Russia, including through economic isolation, a blockade, is a premeditated, long-term strategy. Western leaders are no longer hiding the fact that the sanctions are not directed against individuals or companies. Their goal is to deliver a blow to our entire economy, our social and cultural sphere, every family, and every Russian citizen.

“In fact, the steps designed to make the lives of millions of people worse have all the attributes of an aggression, a war by economic, political, and informational means, and it is of a comprehensive and blatant nature. Again, the West’s top political circles do not even hesitate to talk about it openly....

“In many Western countries, people are subjected to persecution just because they are originally from Russia.... One cannot help but remember the anti-Semitic Nazi pogroms in Germany in the 1930s, and then pogroms perpetrated by their henchmen in many European countries that joined the Nazi aggression against our country during the Great Patriotic War.”

Ukraine Neutrality Now on the Negotiating Table

March 16 (EIRNS)—Ukrainian neutrality is now on the table at the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. In comments to RBC, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “Neutral status is now being seriously discussed along, of course, with security guarantees.... There are absolutely specific formulations which in my view are close to agreement.” Lavrov said that President Vladimir Putin had spoken about neutrality, along with security guarantees for Ukraine without NATO enlargement, as one possible variant in February, according to a report in Reuters. Lavrov cautioned that the negotiations were not easy but that there was “some hope of reaching a compromise.” Lavrov reiterated that the key issues for Russia in the talks are security for Donbas, Ukraine’s demilitarization, and the rights of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.

Speaking about the negotiations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated yesterday that there is some progress. “The meetings continue. As I am informed, the positions in the negotiations sound more realistic. However, time is still needed for the decisions to be in Ukraine’s interests,” he said.

Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, also voiced a note of cautious optimism. “The talks are hard and slow-going. Of course, we would like them to proceed much faster. It is Russia’s sincere wish. We want to achieve peace as soon as possible,” Medinsky said. “The negotiators’ main task is to search through the tremendous amount of complex issues to pick those on which agreement is possible, to rely on them, to include these points of agreement in the agenda and to gradually move forward step by step towards the end result that will suit our peoples—the conclusion of peace,” he said.

“Really, the striving of our state and the task set by the President is to achieve peace on Ukrainian soil, to see a peaceful, neutral and friendly state, which will not be NATO’s stronghold or a citadel of forces that wish to cause harm to our country,” he concluded.

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