Putin boasts of Russia’s economy, calls Ukraine’s Zelenskyy ‘shame to Jewish people’

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Friday touted Russia’s prospects at the country’s main international economic forum despite heavy international sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.

Western officials and investors steered clear of this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that for decades has been Russia’s premier event for attracting foreign capital and is sometimes likened to the Davos World Economic Forum.

The Kremlin earlier also banned journalists from countries that Russia regards as “unfriendly” from covering the proceedings that began Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Moscow has imposed that designation on scores of countries including the United States, Canada, European Union members and Australia in connection with sanctions imposed over the fighting in Ukraine.

READ MORE: Putin threatens to seize more of Ukraine to block counteroffensive on border regions

Nonetheless, Putin said at the forum’s plenary session, “We haven’t turned onto the self-isolation path. Quite the opposite — we have widened contacts with reliable and responsible partners in the countries and regions that serve as the engine, the drivers of the world’s economy today. I’d like to reiterate: These are the markets of the future; everyone clearly understands it.”

Officials did not provide a list of foreign businesses attending, but the program for the more than 100 panel discussions showed a marked majority of speakers hailing from Russia.

While one of the panel sessions listed in the program touted Russia as a “global tech hub,” descriptions of others tacitly admitted Moscow’s growing economic isolation since its troops moved into Ukraine last February.

Putin also vehemently defended Russia’s sending troops into Ukraine and repeated his claims that the Ukrainian government is a neo-Nazi regime, despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Jewish roots.

“My Jewish friends say that Zelenskyy is not a Jew, but a shame to the Jewish people,” Putin said.