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on State of the World, Russia's new

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friends. You're

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listening to State of the World from

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NPR, the day's most vital international stories,

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up close where they're happening. It's Friday,

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June 28th. I'm Greg Dixon. After

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Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,

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there was a concerted effort

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to isolate Russia politically and

0:43

economically. The U.S. and much

0:45

of Europe imposed sanctions on Russia as

0:48

punishment, sanctions that are still in place.

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But even though they're no longer friends

0:53

with most Western governments, Russia insists it

0:55

does have partners in the world. And

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it threw them a party earlier this

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month, an economic forum in St. Petersburg.

1:03

NPR's Charles Mains attended to meet some of

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Russia's new friends, and he found it's

1:08

quite a crowd. I'm

1:10

staring up at a giant robot, or

1:12

more precisely, a giant robot transformer, like

1:14

in those Hollywood movies. It

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has to be at least 15 feet tall, and

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it's nothing if not self-assured. The

1:25

engine of the Russian economy cannot be stopped, it

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tells me in Russian. And then this. Mmm,

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it adds. I love the smell of economic

1:35

success in the morning. I check my

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watch. It's late afternoon. A

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young salesperson, Alyssa Kostyankova, tells me

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it's promoting Russian electric vehicles, made

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in China. Why

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wait to build our own, when we've got

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a good, reliable partner now, says Kostyankova. And

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she has a point. Despite the destruction of

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the war in Ukraine, and Western sanctions and

1:59

repressions at home. that have followed,

2:01

many Russians argue the country is not

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only adapting, it's racing ahead. And

2:05

there's some evidence to back that up. In

2:08

a panel discussion, the Kremlin's top

2:10

economic advisers were clearly elated over new

2:17

World Bank projections that show Russia's

2:19

economy growing faster than their Western

2:22

counterparts, surpassing even the Kremlin's best

2:24

expectations. The

2:28

reason is sanctions. The West imposed them

2:30

and shot themselves in the foot, says

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Russia's finance minister Anton Sulyanov, who asked

2:34

to explain Russia's success. Now,

2:37

their economies are stagnating while ours

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grows. What Sulyanov doesn't acknowledge

2:41

is that weapons production is the main driver

2:43

of Russia's growth. He argues

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sanctions ended the West's access to

2:47

Russian energy resources even as they

2:49

forced Moscow to become more innovative,

2:51

more self-reliant, to find new and

2:53

more reliable partners. And that

2:55

plays into a view you hear a lot

2:57

in Russia these days, that the West is

2:59

in trouble, and the U.S. in particular is

3:01

losing its role as global leader as new

3:03

centers of political and economic power emerge. That

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it's an idea promoted by Russian President

3:08

Vladimir Putin, or say China is not

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surprising. You should hear it from a former

3:13

member of the CIA, maybe he is. We're

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living through an ethical period in history, the

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end of U.S. hegemony. The

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international rules-based order that was established in

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the wake of World War II is

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coming to an end. Larry C. Johnson

3:27

is an ex-agency analyst who these days

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takes decidedly pro-Russian views. About

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the West's decline and about Russia's actions

3:33

in Ukraine, he argues Americans

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don't hear the truth about the war

3:38

in Ukraine. Why? Because Western media, including

3:40

he argues this one, shun controversial views,

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views that challenge mainstream narratives. NPR won't

3:45

have me on anymore. NPR

3:47

won't have me on to talk about the war

3:49

in Ukraine to provide an alternative point of view.

3:52

In fact, alternative views of how the world could

3:55

be are all over the economic forum, including

3:57

a souvenir stand that featured a signed portrait of Putin.

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