{"id":131966,"date":"2026-06-05T10:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/putin-slams-western-sanctions-as-damaging-to-the-global-economy\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:22:28","slug":"putin-rejects-zelenskyys-offer-to-meet-saying-he-sees-no-point-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/putin-rejects-zelenskyys-offer-to-meet-saying-he-sees-no-point-in-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin rejects Zelenskyy’s offer to meet, saying he sees ‘no point’ in it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures speaking at a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees \u201cno point\u201d in it.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022<\/a>, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader\u2019s 26 years in power as well as some taunts about his age.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum,<\/a> Putin described Zelenskyy\u2019s open letter proposing the meeting as \u201cboorish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?\u201d Putin said at a question-and-answer session at his annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.<\/a> \u201cI think it\u2019s the second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin added that a Russian businessman whom he didn\u2019t identify traveled to Kyiv last month and met with Zelenskyy to hear his offer of a personal meeting.<\/p>\n

However, Putin said that he sees \u201cno point\u201d in such a meeting, especially after a May 22 drone attack by Ukraine on a college dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region that Moscow said killed 21 and wounded scores of others.<\/p>\n

In response to Zelenskyy\u2019s barbs about his age and long stay in power, the 73-year-old Putin pointed at other global leaders who are older, adding that \u201cthe main thing isn\u2019t age; the main thing is the ability to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also mocked Zelenskyy’s rocky Oval Office meeting in 2025 and thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for \u201ceducating\u201d Zelenskyy \u201cbefore the eyes of the whole world\u201d and teaching him a proper dress code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still a lot to be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities<\/a>, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the fighting in Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Washington, Trump said Thursday it \u201cwould be great\u201d if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.<\/p>\n

Putin has previously offered for Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for talks, an offer that the Ukrainian leader pointedly rejected. Putin said last month he doesn\u2019t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelenskyy\u2019s push for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce.<\/p>\n

Putin said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his last year\u2019s summit with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Global turbulence<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a speech earlier Friday at the forum, Putin said developing countries have gained an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of output by Western countries has shrunk.<\/p>\n

He accused the West of undermining the global economy and finances with unilateral sanctions. By freezing Russian assets abroad through sanctions, Western nations eroded trust in their own currencies, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctions and blocking of Russia\u2019s sovereign reserves have irreversibly impacted the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,\u201d he said. \u201cJust like Russia, any other country could lose access to their legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as Western financial and payment systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

He alleged that high state debt had helped undermine global trust in Western institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe roots of the current global turbulence lie in the transition from a vertical, hierarchical model, which served the interests of a small number of states, to a more complex, distributed and multipolar one,\u201d Putin said. \u201cRussia views global changes not only as a threat but also as immense opportunities. And to capitalize on them, we aim to act swiftly and pragmatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian leader said the world needed a \u201cmodern, flexible and responsible financial architecture \u2014 free from risks, bans and barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin stresses Russia’s macroeconomic stability<\/strong><\/p>\n

Putin played down Russia\u2019s economic slowdown and sought to emphasize its macroeconomic stability. He noted that Russia\u2019s state debt is a fraction of that in Western countries and its budget deficit is considerably smaller, compared with the West.<\/p>\n

The forum comes at a time when Russia\u2019s economic outlook has clouded amid the conflict in Ukraine.<\/a> The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Putin told heads of international media on the forum’s sidelines that it was an exaggeration to say Russia’s economy was struggling. He noted that his government had taken deliberate steps to cool the economy to keep inflation under control.<\/p>\n

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,<\/a> to showcase his country\u2019s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a \u201cmultipolar world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also gave speeches Friday. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.<\/p>\n

Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze<\/a> an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and also hit a nearby naval base.<\/p>\n

Putin declared that Russia was \u201ccalmly and resolutely\u201d moving to reach its goals in Ukraine. He acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia and vowed to build up defenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do inflict a certain damage,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us, it means only one thing: we need to strengthen our security, strengthen air defenses, and we will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin sits prior to a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In
In this photo released by the Roscongress Foundation, Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (Kirill Kazachkov\/Roscongress Foundation via AP)<\/span>(Kirill Kazachkov\/Roscongress Foundation via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, speaks as Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, left, and Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sit near during a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures speaking at a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)(AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky) ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131990,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131966\/revisions\/131990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131966"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}