‘There is no point in threatening Russia — it only encourages’

Would Putin like to stay in Kazan?

Vladimir Putin met with a pool of Russian and foreign press to summarise the results of the BRICS Summit. Despite the long wait, about 300 journalists from different continents gathered. Here, the Russian president made new statements on the situation around Ukraine, outlined his views on the prospects for future relations between Russia and the United States, and expressed his position on the disagreements between Brazil and Venezuela. And all these important political statements were made in Kazan, although Putin himself did not seem to notice that he was holding a major press conference for the first time outside Moscow.

The acute geopolitical agenda overshadowed everything, so Tatarstan journalists were unable to “snatch” the microphone. Although they wanted to ask the president it he would like to stay in Kazan after hearing many flattering reviews from most heads of state about the clear organisation of the forum without a single misstep.

Peace at any cost

Of course, Russian journalists were most interested in how soon the Ukrainian conflict would be resolved. After all, during the three days of summit negotiations, the “Ukrainian topic” somehow faded into the shadows against the backdrop of conflicts in the Middle East. Almost all heads of state spoke about the escalation of military actions in Palestine and Lebanon, but little was said about Ukraine. Moscow journalists asked how the BRICS member countries feel about this conflict and never let go of the topic. Is it true that the Americans threatened to bomb Moscow? “What are you ready to do and what are you not ready to give up in resolving the Ukrainian conflict?” Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov asked point-blank.

Vladimir Putin was frank in his answers. Their essence boiled down to the fact that Russia is not refusing to negotiate. “All [BRICS members] are determined to end things as quickly as possible by peaceful means,” Vladimir Putin said. “We are receiving different signals from our Western partners, we are not closing ourselves off [from negotiations]. And when I hear that we have refused to contact European leaders, it is a lie, we have not refused and are not refusing now. If someone wants to resume our relations, please do. But we are not imposing ourselves," he emphasised.

He then denied Western media reports that he was threatened with a raid on Moscow after his conversation with Trump. “There is no point in threatening Russia — it only encourages,” Putin said, adding that he “does not remember such a conversation” and he explained the introduction of fake information by the intensity of the election campaign.

On relations between the Russian Federation and the United States: “If they are open, we are for it”

Putin is confident that Trump's statements about his readiness to end the war in Ukraine are sincere. In general, the development of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States depends on the state itself after the elections. “If they are open, we are for it, if not, then it is not necessary,” the Russian leader said.

Putin repeated that Russia is ready to consider any options for peace agreements based on the realities “on the ground” and is not ready for anything else. In other words, Vladimir Putin is seeking to achieve peace at any cost.

How Turkey brought positions closer

Turkey sought to help Russia resolve the conflict, but it did not work out. Vladimir Putin said that with the mediation of this country, he first received offers of negotiations, they were agreed to, but the next day Ukraine refused. He explained this by the fact that the lifting of martial law in Ukraine is disadvantageous to the current president, since this will lead to the need for elections, and the authorities are not ready for them. He recalled that the Ukrainian delegation first initiated the peace document, “which means that everything suited them,” but then refused it.

The dialogue was made more acute by a question from a correspondent of a Western newspaper who asked how the Kazan Declaration of the summit preaching peaceful values is related to military actions in Ukraine. The president replied that Western politicians deceived the Russian authorities when the Minsk agreements on Ukraine were signed, which gave them time to prepare for military action in the war against the Russian Federation.

The country's president believes that the Russian army is successfully conducting military operations, while the Ukrainian army is increasingly losing strength. According to him, its losses during the counteroffensive last year amounted to 16,000 people, and over the past month in the Kursk direction, 26,000 were lost. In addition, there are losses in equipment, and tanks in battles and became even less.

Russian SWIFT is not needed

The President repeated that BRICS can become a new centre of economic development, but without dictatorship and imposition of its will. In economic policy, Russia is not going to create its own SWIFT. According to Putin, it is enough to use its own system for settlements created by the Central Bank. And for investments in the economies of developing countries, the President of the Russian Federation considers it expedient to use the New Development Bank.

“True, for now it is small, it has financed only 100 projects for $32-33 billion," the president of Russia noted. He believes that with the transition of the presidency to Brazil, the role of the bank will increase. Another instrument for ensuring the security of investments should be an investment platform, but how this mechanism will work was not specified. In general, the economic topic took up very little time.

A journalist from Venezuela asked what position Russia takes in the disagreements between her country and Brazil. Putin assured that he considers President Maduro who won the elections in Venezuela fairly legitimate and in this his opinion differs from Brazil.