The Russian president is headlining the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum's plenary session
Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking part in a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. After laying out his vision of a sovereign and powerful Russia, Putin is expected to comment on a backhanded offer of peace talks from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.
The plenary session is the main event of the forum, and Putin appears alongside Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.
During the opening speech of the session, Putin drew a sharp contrast between the Russia of the past - dependent on Western currencies, institutions, and trade arbitrators - and the Russia of today: subjected to "sanctions and basically the theft" of its assets, but sovereign, self-sufficient, and building parallel institutions and trade networks with its BRICS partners.
"Sovereignty implies being smarter and being stronger," and not just "the capability to oppose external pressure," Putin said. "This is about the quality of the government, the economy, and society."
After speeches from Mirziyoyev, Hassan, and Han, Putin is expected to sit for a lengthy questions and answers session.
Putin spoke to the heads of international news agencies on Thursday, in which he discussed Russia's progress in the conflict with Ukraine, as well as the potential role for the EU in settling the conflict, should European leaders "abandon their colonial approach and talk to Russia as an equal partner." Putin also discussed Russia's 'Oreshnik' ballistic missiles, pointing out that the three uses of the system so far have allowed the Russian military to "make decisions in the future on the full-scale use of Oreshnik against designated targets, including in urban areas."
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would likely comment on a recent letter from Zelensky during the plenary session. In the letter, Zelensky levied an array of insults at the Russian president and threatened Russia with drone strikes, before asking Putin to meet for peace talks in a third country.
