Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared the end of "the era of the unipolar world" in a combative speech that lambasted Western countries at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
"When they won the Cold War, the US declared themselves God`s own representatives on earth, people who have no responsibilities -- only interests. They have declared those interests sacred. Now it`s one-way traffic, which makes the world unstable," Putin told the audience.
The much-hyped speech was delayed by more than 90 minutes because of a "massive" cyberattack. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in an impromptu conference call that the speech was postponed due to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the conference`s systems.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Ukrainian IT Army, a hacker collective, named the St. Petersburg Forum as a target earlier this week on its Telegram channel.
Putin`s address at the annual conference, one of his more substantial speeches since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine almost four months ago, was seen as an opportunity for the world to get some insight into his thinking.
Once the Russian president took the stage in the western Russian city, he wasted no time on pleasantries and went straight into attacks on the United States and its allies.
"They live in the past on their own under their own delusions ... They think that ... they have won and then everything else is a colony, a back yard. And the people living there are second-class citizens," he said, adding that Russia`s "special operation" -- the phrase the Russian government uses to describe its war on Ukraine -- has become a "lifesaver for the West to blame all the problems on Russia."
After accusing western countries of blaming their problems on Russia, Putin tried to pin the blame for rising food prices on the "US administration and the Euro bureaucracy."
Ukraine is a major food producer, but the Russian invasion has affected its entire production and supply chain. The United Nations has said the war has had a devastating impact on supplies and prices and warned it could push up to 49 million more people into famine or famine-like conditions.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said last week that food has become part of the Kremlin`s "arsenal of terror."
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of stealing Ukrainian grain, accusations that appear to have been confirmed by satellite images showing Russian ships being loaded with Ukrainian grain. On top of that, Russia is blocking maritime access to the Black Sea ports held by Ukraine, meaning that even the grain that is still under Ukrainian control cannot be exported to the many countries that rely on it.
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