STORY: Putin increasingly casts the conflict in Ukraine, which he calls a "special military operation", as a turning point in history when Russia finally threw off the humiliations that accompanied the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

In an attempt to underscore Russia's tilt towards Asia, Putin, speaking to the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok, said the West was failing while Asia was the future.

In his main speech, Putin hardly mentioned Ukraine beyond a reference to grain exports. But when asked by a moderator if anything had been lost from the conflict, Putin said Russia had gained and would emerge renewed.