Western aid to Ukraine will not decline, but will rather lead to a further deterioration in the economy and living standards in the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted on Thursday.
Speaking to the Valdai Discussion Club in the southern city of Sochi on the Black Sea, Putin said that Europe was already in recession.
He added that Ukraine could not survive without Western financial aid and arms supplies. "Imagine that the deliveries end tomorrow. Then they would survive for just one week," Putin said.
The Russian economy would, by contrast, survive the pressure caused by expenditure on armaments.
"We will cope, and I have reason to assume that we will also cope in the future," Putin told an expert audience drawn from 40 countries. He described the Russian budget as "healthy."
Irrespective of increased arms expenditure for the war in Ukraine, Russia would meet its social obligations. "To say that we are spending excessive amounts on guns and are forgetting the butter; that is not the case," Putin said.
He added that expenditure for defence and security had doubled to 6% of gross domestic product.
The Russian leader once again blamed the West and Ukraine for the war, launched by Putin more than 19 months ago. "A durable peace will come about only once all feel that they are safe," he said.
Putin reiterated that the war was about creating a new world order, in which the West would be unable to dictate its values to other countries.
Russia, as the world's largest country by territory, was not bent on conquering new territories. "The conflict in Ukraine is not a territorial conflict. I would like to stress that," Putin said. Russia had to develop Siberia and its Far East and so did not need additional territory, he added.
