Putin: Don’t blame Russia
President blasts American economy as Ukraine starts path to European Union
Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to rally anti-american sentiment in Europe and across the world, lashed out anew at the United States on Friday, calling it a fading power that treats its allies as colonies, and said the West was falsely blaming its economic woes on the war in Ukraine.
“We all hear about socalled Putin inflation in the West,” Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual business conference once known as “Russia’s Davos,” seeming to refer to U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to blame Russian aggression for what he calls a “Putin price hike” that is hurting American consumers.
“When I see this, I always think: Who’s this meant for, this stupidity?” Putin said. “For someone who doesn’t know how to read or write.”
Putin spoke as the European Commission on Friday formally recommended that Ukraine be granted candidate status to become a member of the European Union, the first step in a long and arduous road that may have no immediate impact on the war but could give the country a symbolic morale boost.
The commission, the EU’S executive arm, also recommended candidate status for Moldova — which applied for membership soon after Ukraine, spurred by concerns about Russia’s threats in the region — but not for neighboring Georgia, which was deemed not ready for EU candidacy.
“We all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective,” said Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, who opened Friday’s meeting of EU commissioners in Brussels wearing a blue shirt and a yellow blazer, Ukraine’s national colors. “We want them to live with us the European dream.”
Ukraine’s accession into the bloc could take years. The European Commission has made Ukraine’s candidate status conditional on several overhauls in the country’s judicial system and government. Even while fighting the Russian army, Ukraine will have to guarantee an independent judiciary, weed out highlevel corruption, adopt laws on the media, limit the influence of oligarchs, and improve legislation on money laundering and protecting minorities, the commission said.
In some ways, the war appears to have eased these tasks. The status of the oligarchs has plummeted, as some have fled and others have lost assets and revenue in the fighting, while the economy has become more dependent on foreign aid than on oligarch-dominated commodities exports. The security services — once, in part, controlled behind the scenes by these business titans — have solidified their positions as institutions defending the country as a whole, not business interests. In other ways, the war has created new obstacles for Ukraine’s European aspirations beyond the obvious threat of being conquered by Russia. Under martial law, opposition television stations were excluded from a national cable system. If the war and martial law persist for months or years, it’s
unlikely that scheduled elections will be held.
“The government deserves only applause” for Ukraine’s long-sought acceptance as a candidate for EU membership, Volodymyr Ariyev, a member of the Ukrainian parliament in the opposition European Solidarity party. “But we need to maintain our development in a democratic way, or we could lose our candidate status.”
The ultimate decision to make Moldova and Ukraine formal candidates for EU membership will be made by EU leaders in Brussels next week. The commission said it would assess Ukraine’s progress at the end of the year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the commission’s recommendation, saying it would help his country stave off Russia.