Putin Calls Talks a ‘Dead End’ but Limits War Aim to Eastern Ukraine

It was the alliance of Western nations, Mr. Putin insisted, that may quickly really feel the political backlash from the financial ache wrought by the sanctions, as evidenced by rising costs for meals and gasoline. European nations, particularly, had proven but once more that they had been collectively performing as a “poodle” of america, he mentioned.

“They all the time miscalculate, not understanding that in troublesome situations, the Russian individuals all the time unite,” Mr. Putin mentioned.

Ever since he appeared earlier than tens of hundreds at a Moscow stadium on March 18, Mr. Putin’s public appearances have been restricted to temporary clips displaying him assembly with authorities officers, largely by video hyperlink, wherein he doesn’t touch upon the peace talks or the conflict. As an alternative, he lets his Protection Ministry and different officers do the speaking.

Mr. Putin emerged from his cocoon on Monday for an off-camera assembly at his residence outdoors Moscow with Chancellor Karl Nehammer of Austria, the primary Western chief to go to with him for the reason that Feb. 24 invasion. Mr. Nehammer mentioned the session left him satisfied that Mr. Putin was planning a big and violent navy assault on the Donbas.

On Tuesday, Mr. Putin arrived within the Amur Area of Russia’s Far East and was proven in video launched by the Kremlin chatting informally with staff on the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a sprawling facility that has been stricken by development delays and stays unfinished.

Whereas a key preliminary thrust of Russia’s invasion led to a retreat, Mr. Putin insisted on Tuesday — as he did within the first weeks of the conflict — that the plan for what he calls the “particular navy operation” had not been altered. And he argued that what he known as the West’s financial “blitzkrieg” to humble Russia had failed, pointing again to Soviet achievements within the area race as proof that Russians may thrive regardless of sanctions.

Mr. Putin mentioned Russia would transfer forward with its lunar program, which features a moon lander scheduled to be launched this yr. And in a nod to Belarus’s standing as Russia’s key ally within the conflict, Mr. Putin promised to ship a Belarusian cosmonaut into area as early as subsequent yr.