Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Friday of playing God and treating countries like ‘colonies’ as he brushed off the impact of sanctions in a speech to an economic forum dubbed ‘Russia’s Davos’, Daily Mail reported.

The Russian President warned that ‘nothing will be as it used to be’ as he delivered the St Petersburg Economic Forum address amid a lengthy denunciation of the US and its allies.

Putin drew applause from the hall when he reaffirmed his determination to continue the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine that has unleashed what he said was an ‘unprecedented’ barrage of Western economic sanctions.

Putin then began to slam the US and its allies and said Moscow’s war in Ukraine had become a ‘lifesaver for the West to blame all the problem on Russia’.

He added during the 73-minute address that the U.S. considers itself ‘God’s emissary on Earth’, and that Western sanctions were founded on a false premise that Russia had no economic sovereignty.

Putin went on to blame the West for trying to damage the Russian economy with ‘crazy’ and ‘reckless’ sanctions, Daily Mail Reported.

‘Their intention is clear to crush the Russian economy by breaking down the chain the logistical chains, freezing national assets, and attacking the living standards, but they were not successful,’ he said.

‘It has not worked out. Russian business people have rallied together working diligently, conscientiously, and step-by-step, we are normalizing the economic situation.’

He said the main aim of the incursion was to defend ‘our’ people in the largely Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine – a justification that Kyiv and the West dismiss as a baseless pretext for a war that has already led to the occupation of parts of southern Ukraine far beyond the Donbas.

Russia’s flagship economic forum kicked off on Wednesday, with attendees including representatives of the Taliban and separatist authorities from eastern Ukraine. The event is scheduled to run until Saturday.

The annual forum (SPIEF), often dubbed the Russian Davos, has been the country’s main showcase for investors, attracting global leaders and business elites.

This year delegations from more than 40 countries are expected to be in attendance, including those from China, Turkey, Egypt and a number of countries in Asia and Africa. But there was a notable lack of the Western investors and investment bankers who turned up in previous years.