25th SPIEF signals failure of western economic "blitzkrieg" against Russia

ST. PETERSBURG, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) concluding last week has signaled the failure of the unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries, analysts and government officials say.

The forum, held on June 15-18, brought together political and business figures from over 130 countries and regions, who shared their ideas on major challenges facing the world economy and offered their solutions.

Despite the U.S. boycott and the absence of many European countries, this year's forum has seen 14,000 participants and 691 business contracts worth 5.6 trillion rubles (about 100 billion U.S. dollars) signed, with all indexes showing increase compared with last year's event, according to the Roscongress Foundation, organizer of the forum.

During a plenary session at the forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West has been imposing an unprecedented number of sanctions upon Russia at an unprecedented speed, yet the Western countries' "economic blitzkrieg" against Russia was doomed to fail from the beginning while sanctions as a weapon have proved to be a double-edged sword.

Putin emphasized that despite efforts that are currently being taken by some countries to maintain a unipolar world order, this era is over and the arrival of a multilateral world system is inevitable.

This year's event demonstrated Russia's self-sufficiency and its capability of responding to external pressure under a complex international situation, said Anton Kobyakov, adviser to the Russian President and executive secretary of the organizing committee of the forum.

As many U.S. and European companies continue to leave the Russian market, Russia has decided not to limit its partnerships and to shift its focus to emerging markets, analysts here say.

Topics through conferences during the forum showed that Russia has been focused on expanding cooperation with BRICS countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and looking for opportunities for further cooperation with Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said Russia was willing to work with the Eurasian Economic Union and other multilateral frameworks such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in order to strengthen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and green energy, and to further promote regional integration for further development.

Mikhail Myasnikovich, chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, believes that the current global economic order is undergoing a transformation, and the establishment of the Greater Eurasian Partnership is conducive to solving the problems and addressing challenges currently facing Russia.

He added that Russia is willing to strengthen cooperation with other countries in infrastructure fields such as payment settlement, logistics and transportation.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Turkey can serve as a logistics hub for Russia to import goods from third countries and export Russian goods.