Russia's Eastern Economic Forum wrapped up on Friday after three days of speeches, discussions, business negotiations and economic and geopolitical strategy sessions. Here's a summary of the event's top moments and most important achievements.

258 agreements worth a whopping 5.4 trillion rubles (over $59.7 billion) were signed at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok this week.

The forum was attended by some 7,000 guests from 75 countries, from high-level officials and business people, to journalists and commentators, including numerous Sputnik contributors.

Major new agreements included plans to build a large new chemical complex in Komi Republic, a new timber processing complex in Sakhalin, and measures to attract scientific and engineering talent in the framework of Russky Innovation Science and Technology Center under the auspices of the Far Eastern Federal University.

Russian deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev pointed to an array of instructions made by President Putin at the forum aimed at speeding up regional development, from preferential mortgage loans to the expansion of the VEB.RF public-private partnership initiative, new resources for Far Eastern and Arctic cities, energy projects and measures to attract additional investment.

Russia Ready to Help Build New International System Reflecting Interests of Global Majority

“President Putin emphasized global cooperation, [that] Russia is ready to cooperate to establish a multipolar world order which reflects justice for a majority of countries,” Indonesian military and security expert Dr. Connie Rahakundini Bakrie told Sputnik, summarizing her impressions of President Putin’s speech at this year’s Eastern Economic Forum, and the forum in general.

The panel discussion, which included a conversation on security issues, the threat of terrorism, efforts by some countries to destabilize others, the Ukrainian crisis, the nuclear threat, energy security and other issues demonstrated that the forum was about economics, but also “very related to security,” Bakrie said.

In general, the forum highlighted Russia’s commitment to taking relations with Asia-Pacific region to a new level, the observer said.

“The most important thing for the Asia-Pacific is technology and science, because we are a little bit weak on that position. In President Putin’s speech yesterday, he really underlined that Russia will play a very big part in building science and technology together [with Asian countries, ed.], especially in the nuclear aspect of energy security,” Bakrie said.

When it comes to technological security and sovereignty, Russia-Asia Pacific partnerships could do for the issue what US-led initiatives have aimed to do via AUKUS and QUAD – providing “military industry, high technology, surveillance systems, things like that to balance the Indo-Pacific,” according to the observer.

“Last but not least, we have to be very powerful in the sea as well – how to make ships, how to strengthen our navy, how to face the underwater war in the future. This is something that we in the Indo-Pacific, especially Indonesia, are looking forward to have relations and a deep connection with Russia,” Bakrie emphasized.

Bakrie was also impressed by the Russian Far East, saying it was her first time visiting the region, and that she was “surprised that the Far East’s development is so advanced. I see that the development of the Far East is very serious, especially when President Putin mentioned that in the last ten years, 25,000 manufacturing, infrastructure, technology and education projects were built in that area.”

Brightest Moments

The EEF showed off the beauty and diversity of the Russian Far East and its inhabitants, featuring an open-air exhibition celebrating the achievements, culture, customs, and cuisine of local peoples, and highlighting Russia’s plans to take advantage of its unique position to turn the Far East into a driver for economic growth from eastern Russia through the entire Asia-Pacific region. The latter effort included the Russia-ASEAN Business Dialogue.

The open-air exhibition Far East Street has been launched on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum 2024 in Vladivostok, Russia

The exhibition celebrates the achievements, culture, customs, cuisine, and economic potential of the regions of the Russian Far East. The… https://t.co/Dwkw0lEugQ pic.twitter.com/BToAuG8va1

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) September 3, 2024

Russia-ASEAN Business Dialogue highlights cooperation at Eastern Economic Forum

The Russia-ASEAN Business Dialogue was held on the second day of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

Discussions focused on deepening cooperation… pic.twitter.com/B58Y6ixNab

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) September 4, 2024

President Putin’s headlining speech naturally garnered the most attention, with the Russian leader highlighting the Far East’s position as a driver for growth and a key component of Moscow’s economic and geopolitical pivot to Asia and the Global South. “Our Far Eastern regions provide a direct gateway to these promising and developing markets and allow us to overcome the barriers that some Western elites are trying to impose on the world,” Putin said.

The president commented on an array of other issues, from the Northern Sea Route to Ukraine, the future of AI in medicine, energy politics and even the US presidential campaign.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was also in attendance, highlighting Malaysia’s ambitions to join BRICS+ and touting the bloc as a key means for Global South nations to “contain the onslaught of other richer industrialized countries.”

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng also spoke at the event, pointing to China’s status as a leading trade partner and investor in the Russian Far East. “We are ready, together with the Russian side and guided by key agreements reached at the highest level, to accelerate interconnectedness, both in cross-border infrastructure and the harmonization of rules and standards, to increase the scale and quality of cooperation, to strengthen the foundation for the long-term sustainable development of Sino-Russian relations in the new era, to contribute to ensuring prosperity and stability in the region and around the world,” Han said.

The development of the Russian Far East will be “one of the great economic adventures of the 21st century,” and one which will profit “not only Russia, but a great part of Asia as well,” veteran international affairs observer Pepe Escobar told Sputnik from the EEF’s sidelines, highlighting its participants’ role in the creation of a new, multipolar world order.

Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar : Russia, China, Malaysia spoke for the global majority at East Economic Forum

Veteran international affairs observer Pepe Escobar shared with Sputnik his impressions of President Putin and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s remarks at… pic.twitter.com/36OmllhMJ7

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) September 5, 2024

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240906/eastern-economic-forum-top-achievements-and-key-moments-1120058992.html

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

urkaine war
When will the war in Ukraine end?
One month later, Kyiv's invasion of Russia hasn't moved the needle, while Moscow has made gains on other fronts

ANATOL LIEVEN

Some Western supporters of Ukraine have been presenting the Ukrainian incursion into the Russian province of Kursk as a great victory that will significantly change the course and outcome of the war. They are deceiving themselves. While legally and morally justified, the attack has failed in all its main objectives, and may indeed turn out to have done serious damage to Ukraine’s position on the battlefield. One U.S. analyst has compared it to the Confederate invasion of the North that led to the battle of Gettysburg — a brilliant tactical stroke that however ended in losses that crippled the Army of Northern Virginia.

The Ukrainian attack has not captured any significant Russian population center or transport hub. It has embarrassed Putin, but there is no evidence that it has significantly shaken his hold on power in Russia. It may have done something to raise the spirits of the Ukrainian population in general; but, as Western reports from eastern Ukraine make clear, it has done nothing to raise the morale of Ukrainian troops there.

Understandably, they are focused on the situation on their own front; and that situation is deteriorating sharply, in part it seems because many of Ukraine’s best units were diverted to the attack on Kursk, and new Ukrainian conscripts are inadequately trained and poorly motivated. 

"One of the objectives of the offensive operation in the Kursk direction was to divert significant enemy forces from other directions, primarily from the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions,” Ukrainian commander in chief General Alexander Syrsky said.

In fact, precisely the opposite seems to have happened; and this is leading to intensified criticism both of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian high command from ordinary soldiers and citizens.

The Russian army is advancing rapidly towards the key Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk. In the words of one of the Ukrainian defenders: “For a long time, the situation in Donbas was aptly described as ‘difficult, but controlled.’ However, now it is out of control. Currently, it looks like our front in Donbas has collapsed.”

If or when Pokrovsk falls, it will mean that Russia controls almost all of the southern Donbas, and could strike either north, against the remaining Ukrainian positions in northern Donetsk province, or east, with a view to rolling up the entire Ukrainian southern front.

There is now no prospect that even with Western military supplies, Ukraine can inflict a crushing defeat on Russia and recover its lost territories by force. There is a danger of Ukrainian military collapse, which might lead to pressure in the West for direct intervention. This is one thing that the Russian government's signaled change to its nuclear doctrine is intended to deter. 

Present Russian nuclear doctrine states that nuclear weapons will be employed in response to a nuclear attack on Russia, or a conventional attack that “threatens the existence of the state.” In the words of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov;

“[T]here is a clear intent to introduce a correction [to the nuclear doctrine], caused, among other things, by the examination and analysis of development of recent conflicts, including, of course, everything connected to our Western adversaries' escalation course in regards to the special military operation." 

If a direct NATO intervention in Ukraine led to Russian defeat there, it would certainly threaten the survival of the present Russian government, and usher in a period of profound national instability and weakness, conceivably even leading to the disintegration of the Russian Federation. There is little reason to doubt that, faced with this threat, Russia would indeed escalate towards the use of nuclear weapons, albeit initially on only a limited and local scale.

Ryabkov’s statement is also of course intended to deter the U.S. and NATO from bowing to pressure from Kyiv and some NATO governments and politicians and allowing Ukraine to use the new NATO-supplied long-range missiles and F-16 warplanes to strike targets deep inside Russia. It is not that such attacks would provoke Russian nuclear retaliation; but if successful, it is easy to predict that Russia would hit back at the West through sabotage of European infrastructure. Russians believe the destruction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has given them a moral and legal right to do this. 

Such sabotage operations appear already to have begun, though on a small scale and as what appear to be warning shots rather than a campaign. If however this were to become a full-scale campaign, it could in turn provoke harsh Western responses leading to a cycle of escalation ending in catastrophe. The Russians also believe — not without reason — that the Ukrainian authorities have a strong interest in creating such an escalation so as to bring NATO in on their side; and that NATO must therefore be pressured into continuing to place limits on Ukraine’s use of NATO weaponry. The fact that Ukraine felt able to invade Russian territory using NATO weaponry has intensified Russian fears in this regard.

Once again, it is necessary here to separate what Ukraine has a right to do, from what is wise for Ukraine to do, and the West to allow. For it should be recognized that like the attack on Kursk, a Ukrainian campaign of bombardments of targets in Moscow and elsewhere deep in Russia with NATO missiles would essentially be a gamble, the outcome of which is highly doubtful.

After the failure of last year’s Ukrainian offensive, the Biden administration abandoned hopes for complete Ukrainian victory and instead started to say that support for Ukraine is intended to “strengthen Kyiv at the eventual negotiating table.” In recent months, the Ukrainian government has also shifted towards this position, and away from its previous refusal to negotiate with the Putin administration and insistence on complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine as a precondition of talks with Russia.

There has long been a growing recognition in private among Western experts and officials that it is in reality impossible for Ukraine to recover its lost territories through victory on the battlefield. However this has not so far led — even strictly in private — to suggestions that Ukraine and the West might propose terms that the Russian people (let alone the government) could accept as a basis for negotiations. 

In the meantime, the evidence suggests that it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is strengthening its military position for eventual negotiations; and it is not at all clear that Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia would significantly change this trend. 

This is also true when it comes to Western aid. Even before the crushing defeat in local elections of German ruling coalition parties by those opposed to continuing support for Ukraine, the German government had announced that German direct aid to Ukraine will be cut by almost half, and by more than 90 percent in 2027. In that year, France will hold presidential elections which on present form seem likely to be won by Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National — also opposed to open-ended support for Ukraine. A drastic reduction in European aid would not in itself end U.S. aid. It would however force a U.S. administration greatly to increase that aid if it wished to prevent a collapse of the Ukrainian budget and economy.

There is no reason therefore to think that time is on Ukraine’s side in this conflict, and that it makes sense to delay the start of negotiations. That however does not mean that all the cards are in Russia’s hands, and all the Kremlin has to do is wait for Ukrainian collapse. The economy has performed far better than the West hoped, but the Russian Central Bank itself is warning of serious problems next year. As for the situation on the battlefield, while Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted, that also appears true of many Russian troops.

The army with which Russia began this war has been destroyed. The exact level of casualties is unclear, but the dead and disabled are almost certainly in excess of 200,000. The Black Sea Fleet has been crippled. As Russian establishment interlocutors acknowledged to me, Russia probably does not have the troops to capture major Ukrainian cities, unless President Putin launches an intensified wave of conscription — something he is clearly unwilling to do. 

This means that if given a clear choice between what they could regard as a reasonable peace and a continuation of war to complete victory, it seems probable that a majority of Russians would opt for peace; and that it would therefore be very difficult for Putin to continue the war, if to do so meant the conscription of many more Russian sons and husbands. Such a compromise peace would be very far from what the Ukrainian and Western governments hope. It would also be very far from what Putin hoped for when he launched this war in February 2022.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-war-2669129882/

THIS IS WHAT A COMPROMISE WILL LOOK LIKE:

A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

Reporter

The nationalist group in the western part of the DPR will not receive additional ammunition in the near future due to the destruction of the military echelon of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The train, which was carrying shells intended for the militants of the Kiev regime, was found by Russian intelligence at the Vishnevetskoye railway station, south of Pavlograd, in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The composition of the Russian OTRK "Iskander" was quickly completed.

According to local reports, the strike was so strong and precise that a powerful fire raged at the station for almost 12 hours, accompanied by constant explosions from the secondary detonation of artillery ammunition. Emergency services specialists cannot even locate the fire yet.

It does not take a genius to understand that such a loss would have a negative impact on the ability of the nationalists to effectively resist the advance of Russian units. And the Ukrainian army now needs ammunition like air. Lately, they have been complaining from time to time about the lack of shells and the lack of trained and motivated infantry. And these two factors directly depend on each other: the more shells, the fewer infantry killed. And vice versa.

It is worth noting that the day before, the arrival of Russian Iskander aircraft was noted in many areas of the Ukrainian Dnepropetrovsk region. Apparently, it is in this region that the nationalist military command concentrates reserve units and depots of ammunition and fuel, with such help, which it hopes to change the situation in the Donetsk People's Republic. But, as practice shows, this calculation is at least naive.

Let us add that at present the Russian army has approached Pokrovsk and is carrying out a maneuver to encircle the Ukrainian group of Ugledar.

source: Reporter

https://en.reseauinternational.net/dans-la-region-de-dnepropetrovsk-un-train-transportant-des-munitions-des-forces-armees-ukrainiennes-detruit-par-une-attaque-diskander-brule-depuis-pres-de-12-heures/

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.