Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the country’s agricultural and fishing industries via video link at a residence outside Moscow, Russia, April 5, 2022. Satellite / Mikhail Klimentiev / Kremlin via REUTERS
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April 12 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Tuesday that attempts to isolate Moscow would fail, citing the success of the Soviet space program as proof that Russia could make great strides forward in difficult conditions.
Russia says it will never depend on the West again after the United States and its allies imposed crippling sanctions to punish Putin for his February 24 order for what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Sixty-one years after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union entered history textbooks as the first man in space, Putin traveled to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow.
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“The sanctions were total, the isolation was complete, but the Soviet Union was still first in space,” Putin said, according to Russian state television.
“We do not intend to be isolated,” Putin said. “It is impossible to isolate anyone strictly in the modern world – especially in such a huge country as Russia.
Russia’s space successes since the Cold War, such as Gagarin’s flight, and the 1957 launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite from Earth, are of particular significance to Russia: both shocked the United States. The launch of Sputnik 1 prompted the United States to create NASA in an attempt to catch up with Moscow.
Putin says a “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because the United States has used Ukraine to threaten Russia – including through NATO’s military alliance – and that Moscow has had to protect Russian-speaking people in Ukraine from persecution.
He said on Tuesday that there was no doubt that Russia would achieve all its goals in Ukraine – a conflict he described as inevitable and essential for Russia’s long-term protection.
“His goals are absolutely clear and noble,” Putin said. “It is clear that we had no choice. That was the right decision.” Read more
Ukrainian forces offered fierce resistance, and the West imposed extensive sanctions on Russia in an attempt to force it to withdraw its troops.
Russia’s economy is set to shrink by more than 10% in 2022, the biggest drop in gross domestic product since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday. Read more
Putin toured the spaceport in Russia’s Far East with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“Why are we so worried about these sanctions?” This is what Lukashenko said, according to Russian state television.
Mr Lukashenko, who has experience of sometimes saying things that seem to contradict the positions of his closest ally on a number of issues, insisted that Belarus should take part in talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and said Belarus had been unfair to label “accomplice of the aggressor”. Read more
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Reuters report; Writing by Guy Falkonbridge
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