Putin claims victory over economic crisis despite global skepticism
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin believes he has saved "Russia from falling into the abyss" that the country supposedly faced before he came to power. On Thursday, for four and a half hours, he tried to convince citizens that Russia does not have economic problems.
BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg posed the question of whether, in Putin's own opinion, he managed to save Russia, as Boris Yeltsin asked him when handing over power in 1999.
Rosenberg listed Russian losses since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, which Western intelligence estimates at 650,000 people. He recalled the incursion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the Kursk region, inflation at levels unseen since the annexation of Crimea, and the expansion of NATO, which Putin intended to stop by starting the war with Ukraine.
"I have done everything to ensure that Russia is an independent and sovereign power that is able to make decisions in its own interests," Putin replied. "Everything that was happening to Russia before and after was effectively leading us toward the complete loss of our sovereignty. And without sovereignty, Russia cannot exist as an independent state," he added.
According to Putin, Yeltsin was "patted on the shoulder" in the West, and when he opposed NATO's airstrikes on Yugoslavia, he began to be called an alcoholic.
"I have done everything to ensure that Russia is an independent and sovereign power that is able to make decisions in its own interests," Putin assured.
The dictator insisted that Russia is in a stable economic state, contributing to the country's development, and explained the rise in prices by saying that Russians' incomes are rising faster than the number of available goods. He could not answer the question of when Russia will manage to push Ukrainians away from Kursk.
