Russia has a “sovereign” economy that has not “collapsed” despite sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“Of course, we hear criticism from all sides that everything has collapsed. We have fallen to the same level at which Eurozone countries have recorded growth in recent years,” Putin said, adding that Russia is pursuing a “sovereign” economy.

The Russian president then cited Italy, along with Greece, Belgium and France, among the worst cases in the European Union for public debt. In his speech, Putin argued that the “poor state” of Western public finances is undermining confidence in the West.

The Kremlin leader referred to “high public debt and large budget deficits,” saying eurozone public debt rose to 81.7% of GDP in 2025. He specifically cited Greece at 146%, Italy at 137%, France at 115% and Belgium at 108%. “Russia, incidentally, is at 16.4%,” he added, noting that the figure “fluctuates slightly.”

According to the “czar,” “European elites are essentially creating chaos, into which they are trying to draw more and more countries.” Putin said the “aggressive” policies pursued by the European bureaucracy are “short-sighted” and are contributing both to a further weakening of the European Union’s position in the global economy and to a deterioration of international security.

He said European bureaucracy pursues aggressive, short-sighted policies that not only further weaken Europe’s position in the global economy but also undermine international security. “We are seeing shocks affecting energy markets, tensions being stoked in some regions—especially the Middle East at the moment—and the implementation of short-sighted policies by the European bureaucracy,” the president emphasized. “These policies are accompanied by aggressive rhetoric and lead to a further weakening of Europe’s position in the global economy, while undermining regional and global security,” he added.

The Kremlin leader also said that the economic growth rates of BRICS countries are higher than those of the G7 and will continue to rise. “Forecasts indicate that this balance will continue to shift further in favor of the BRICS. The question is: why is this happening? It is happening because the economic growth rates of BRICS countries will remain consistently higher. They are higher now and will become even higher. This trend will persist,” the Russian leader stressed.

The Russian president added that the global development model, created over decades and presented by the West as universal and neutral, was in fact deliberately designed to drain resources and create dependency. “For decades, the global development model has been based on a limited number of financial centers, technological solutions, insurance and logistics hubs, rating agencies and reserve currencies. This structure was presented as universal—apparently suitable for everyone and, above all, apparently neutral. In other words, it was essentially a system deliberately created to produce dependency or to drain resources,” the Moscow leader emphasized.

Read also