In speech to UN Putin calls for removing sanctions and trade restrictions
President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, said that the recovery of the world economy during the pandemic requires "removing restrictions and sanctions."
"Removing restrictions and sanctions could be useful to restore global growth and reduce unemployment," said Putin.
Putin said that now Russia’s proposal to introduce so-called green corridors, which will remove trade restrictions to ensure countries' access to basic necessities, is especially relevant.
"I would like to draw attention once again to the Russian proposal to introduce so-called green corridors, free from trade wars and sanctions, especially for basic goods, food, medicines, personal protective equipment, which are in demand precisely to fight the pandemic," Putin explained.
According to Putin, after the pandemic, the world economy will have a long road to recovery, and the scale of the socio-economic shock and its consequences have yet to be assessed. To combat the crisis will require "new non-standard solutions," the president said. "We can only work them out together," he said.
Putin floated the idea of creating "green corridors" during an emergency G20 summit in March. At the time, the Russian president said that "ideally" during the pandemic, a joint moratorium should be declared on the imposition of restrictions on all essential goods and financial transactions for their purchase. It is about the life and death of people and "it is a purely humanitarian issue," Putin said. "We need to clear these issues of all political husks," Putin added.
Russia has been under sanctions imposed by the United States, the EU and its member countries for seven years, the largest of which were imposed for the annexation of Crimea and the events in eastern Ukraine.
In early September, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would not fly to New York to participate in the General Assembly, which takes place from September 21 to 29.
The last time the Russian leader spoke at the UN General Assembly in 2015. After that, Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.