In a conversation with journalists after the Russian Geographical Society congress, Vladimir Putin spoke about the cancellation of the meeting with Donald Trump, the consequences of sanctions, and the response to "Tomahawk" strikes.
"In a phone conversation, both the meeting itself and its location were proposed by the American side. And I agreed with this, but expressed the opinion that, of course, such meetings need to be well prepared and it would be a mistake for both me and the American president to approach this lightly and leave the meeting without the expected result. The US president fully agreed with this," Putin reported. In his opinion, the US president is not canceling, but postponing the meeting, "dialogue is always better than some kind of confrontation, some disputes, or especially war."
Putin also stated that the sanctions will have "certain consequences" for Russia, but will not significantly affect our economic well-being. "No self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decide anything under pressure. Russia has the privilege to consider itself on this list of self-respecting countries and peoples." However, in his opinion, they will definitely affect the global situation. "If the amount of our oil and oil products on the world market sharply decreases, prices will rise. And my American colleague and I also talked about this. What will this lead to? It will lead to a sharp increase in the cost of oil and oil products, including at gas stations. And the USA is no exception," Putin reported.
He assessed the discussion of the possibility of supplying "Tomahawk" missiles to Ukraine as an "attempt at escalation." "If such weapons are used to strike Russian territory, the response will be very serious, if not stunning. Let them think about it," Putin stated.