Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West that attempts to isolate Moscow will fail, citing the success of the Soviet space program as evidence Russia can achieve spectacular leaps forward in tough conditions.
On Tuesday, 61 years to the day since the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin blasted off into the history books by becoming the first man in space, Mr Putin travelled to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far east, 5,550 kilometres from Moscow.
"The sanctions were total. The isolation was complete, but the Soviet Union was still first in space," Mr Putin said, according to Russian state television.
"We don't intend to be isolated. It is impossible to severely isolate anyone in the modern world — especially such a vast country as Russia."
Russia's Cold War space successes — such as Gagarin's flight and the 1957 launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite launched from Earth — have a particular pertinence for Russia: both events shocked the United States.
The launch of Sputnik 1 prompted the United States to create NASA in a bid to catch up with Moscow.
Invasion's goals 'absolutely clear and noble'
Mr Putin said the "special military operation" in Ukraine was necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia — including via the NATO military alliance — and that Moscow had to defend Russian-speaking people in Ukraine from persecution.
He said that he had no doubt Russia would achieve all of its objectives in Ukraine, a conflict he cast as both inevitable and essential to defend Russia in the long term.
"Its goals are absolutely clear and noble," Mr Putin said. "It's clear that we didn't have a choice. It was the right decision."
He said Russia would press on with its military action in Ukraine until its goals were fulfilled.
Mr Putin said the campaign was going according to plan and it was not moving faster because Russia wanted to minimise losses.
Mr Putin claimed that Ukraine backtracked on proposals it made during talks with Russian negotiators in Istanbul, resulting in a deadlock in talks and leaving Moscow no other choice but to press on with its offensive.
He also said peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end.
"We have again returned to a dead-end situation for us," Mr Putin told a news briefing.
Lukashenko downplays sanctions
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
Russia's economy is on track to contract by more than 10 per cent in 2022, the biggest fall in gross domestic product since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
Mr Putin toured the space port in Russia's far east with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"Why on Earth are we getting so worried about these sanctions?" Mr Lukashenko asked, according to Russian state television.
Mr Lukashenko — who has a track record of sometimes saying things that appear to jar with his closest ally's stated positions on a range of issues — has insisted that Belarus must be involved in negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
He has said that Belarus had been unfairly labelled "an accomplice of the aggressor".
Western sanctions will backfire against the West
Mr Putin said Russia's economy and financial system had withstood the impact of what he called the Western sanctions "blitz" and the rouble had recovered its losses.
And he argued the sanctions would backfire against the West.
He said Western restrictions on fertiliser exports from Russia and Belarus would drive up global fertiliser prices, eventually leading to food shortages and increased migration flows.
Mr Putin said "common sense should prevail" and added that the West should "come back to reason and make well-balanced decisions without losing its face".
He contended that "they won't be able to shut all the doors and windows".
He also argued that new Western restrictions on high-tech exports would encourage Russia to move faster to develop new technologies, opening a "new window of opportunities".
Lunar probe launch to proceed
Mr Putin said Russia would continue with plans to launch a lunar probe, called Luna-25, to the Moon in the third quarter of this year and deepen cooperation with Belarus on space infrastructure and technology.
He said Russia would develop a new-generation transport spaceship and technologies for nuclear energy in space.
Russia would work with Belarus on infrastructure that guaranteed the countries' independent access to space, he added, saying he had asked Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, to train a Belarusian for flight on a Russian spacecraft.
Reuters
