Putin's Speech: From Russia's Economic Growth & Military Advancements to New START Suspension

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 delivered a keynote speech addressing the Federal Assembly. Even though the West targeted Russia's economy, society, and military, it has failed to inflict damage on the nation, according to Putin. 💬 "My personal impression is that that was a very self-confident speech of the president of a country which is not just struggling through a difficult war, but is developing and looking forward into the future with optimism," Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for European and International Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics and deputy director of research at the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, told Sputnik. "And the major conclusion that I personally make from this speech, the major impression that I have from the speech is that despite the Western efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, Russia has successfully adapted to the new environment." Putin Nailed It When Criticizing the West - The West is likely to react aggressively to Putin's speech, especially because many of the issues he touched upon were spot on, Sputnik's interlocutors said. 💬 "It will be criticized because of the statement that the West has started attacking Russia in 2014, arming the Ukrainian forces and deploying NATO armaments to the borders of Russia," Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels, told Sputnik. "It will be discounted as weak on the economy because it does not recognize the negative effect of sanctions. It will be considered aggressive because it does not abide by the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. It will be considered threatening because of freezing [New] START."

■ Presidential Address to Federal Assembly (The People's Voice)

■ Дмитрий Медведев: О двух выступлениях (Dimitry Medvedev: "About two performances"): Xoaquin FIores' Translation of "About two performances" (Extract): [...] And more. To paraphrase a well-known expression, Biden said in Warsaw: "If Russia stops its invasion, it will end right now. If Ukrainians stop defending themselves, it will be the end of Ukraine." This is a refined lie. ● The truth is quite different. If Russia stops the Special Military Operation, without achieving victory, there will be no Russia, it will be torn apart. If the United States stops supplying weapons to the Kiev regime, the war will end."