ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused "Western elites" of trying to slow down the emergence of new leaders in the world economy.

“You know that now the entire global system of economic relations is going through a stage of fundamental and, as just said, irreversible changes. They are due to the fact that the previous model of globalization is being replaced by a multipolar model,” Putin said at the “Russia Calling!” investment forum in Moscow.

Expressing that Russia wants to create a “new, truly democratic” global economic model, Putin said that the current change in the global economy’s landscape and the emergence of new leaders is an “objective and largely natural process.”

“The elite of Western countries, however, those that find themselves at the top of this process, are trying to slow it down, to artificially restrain growth, as they believe, on the global periphery, which they are used to exploiting, using as a resource, as a source of rent, simply as a colony,” Putin further said.

In this regard, Putin said that "Western elites" resort to sanctions, “rocking the political situation” and provoking conflicts in an attempt to maintain their dominance, arguing that they have gone so far as to “abolish the very principles of the market economy that they love to talk about.”

He went on to say that the West began closing their borders “as soon as competitors appeared,” despite arguing for equal terms and conditions and open borders in the past.

He added that the financial infrastructure “based on the predominance of the US dollar and the euro” is discredited, which he argued as having been replaced by “a system of settlements in national currencies.”

“Of course, there is still a lot to be done here. This is an obvious thing. But this is being done, and this process will only gain momentum. I will say more, the Western financial system is clearly becoming outdated in terms of technology,” he said, adding: “It has become archaic, or at least is becoming archaic.”