Putin's remarks came during a videoconference meeting of Russia's Council for Strategic Development and National Projects, where he raised the U.S. stance on Europe, the economic crisis in Western Europe, the Ukraine conflict, and the West's drive to destroy the Russian economy.
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According to the Russian President, the EU leadership has been weak towards the U.S., which has led to the region's current economic woes. "Today, the EU’s main partner, the U.S., is pursuing policies leading directly to the deindustrialization of Europe."
Putin said, "They even try to complain about that to their American overlord. Sometimes even with resentment, they ask ‘Why are you doing this to us?’ I want to ask: ‘What did you expect?’ What else happens to those who allow feet to be wiped on them?"
The President also referred to the attitude of the EU in relation to the Ukrainian conflict, with its host of sanctions against Russia. Regarding the consequences, Putin said, "(...) there has been an unprecedented jump, as economists say, in inflation in their own house, the Eurozone." He said that in November extreme figures were recorded in some countries of the bloc, reaching 20 and even 25 percent.
As for the West's attempts to destroy the Russian economy, Putin said they had failed. "Western countries intended to undermine the Russian economy by plundering its foreign exchange reserves, sinking its national currency and provoking devastating inflation. This plan, however, failed."
Putin praised the country's "responsible financial policy," which has made it possible to cope with unprecedented sanctions. In this regard, he said the Russian ruble has become one of the strongest currencies in the world since the beginning of the year.
The 2.5 percent drop in the country's GDP forecast for the end of the year is a far cry from "the 20% collapse that many Western experts were predicting when the collective West launched an economic war on us."
Amid the imposed sanctions, "the EU continues to consume our goods and services, while reverse flows are curbed," Putin said, noting that Russia's commodity supplies to European countries increased 1.5-fold in the first nine months of the current year.