Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to rally anti-American sentiment in Europe and across the world, lashed out anew at the United States on Friday, calling it a fading power that treats its allies as colonies, and said the West was falsely blaming its economic woes on the war in Ukraine.
"We all hear about so-called Putin inflation in the West,” Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual business conference once known as "Russia’s Davos,” seeming to refer to U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to blame Russian aggression for what he calls a "Putin price hike” that is hurting American consumers.
"When I see this, I always think: Who’s this meant for, this stupidity?” Putin said. "For someone who doesn’t know how to read or write.”