Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered his annual speech to the Russian parliament on Tuesday, after postponing it last year to early 2023. The Kremlin leader’s speech comes a day after US President Joe Biden’s historic visit to Kyiv. Putin blamed the West for the invasion in Ukraine, arguing that it was not Russia that started the war, but the Westerners.
Putin accused the West it had stolen Russia’s Forex and gold reserves, also blaming it for wanting a global war and slamming again “the Western decadence”.
“We are in a difficult period, facing historical events. We will decide the special military operation tasks step by step. We did our best to resolve the situation in Donbas peacefully but the West prepared for another scenario. Kiyv held talks with the West about the delivery of weapons ahead of the special military operation. NATO expanded to our borders, more and more troops were massed at our borders,” the Kremlin leader began his speech.
Putin claimed that the West has “cynically deceived its population”.” We defend our interest and the position that there should be no division between civilized countries and the rest. Only the US has a large number of military bases around the world. The United States has unilaterally left international treaties. They (n.e. western states) started this war, we did everything we could to stop it, Sevastopol in Crimea was the next target. The objective of the West is unlimited power. For the West, the stake is trillions of dollars.”
Putin: The West turned Ukraine against Russia
The Russian president also accused that the West had begun to make Ukraine “anti-Russian” a long time ago. “Kyiv’s military units use Nazi markings and nobody in the West is noticing that. The anti-Russia project means channeling the aggression to the East in order to fuel a war in Europe. The responsibility for the escalation in Ukraine goes to the Western elites. The West wants to change the local conflict into a global one. Our country’s existence is at stake, but defeating us on the battlefield is impossible”, said Putin.
Vladimir Putin criticizes Western “decadence” again
“Anglican Church plans to consider the idea of a gender neutral God, they don’t know what they’re doing. The family is the union of a man and a woman. This is what the sacred books of all the world’s religions say. But the West is trying to revise these sacred texts.
We will never be like the western elites, engaging in witch hunts. The West will try to divide us, to bet on traitors. The majority of our people supported our actions to defend Donbas, I want to thank the Russian people for their determination and courage. New territories chose to be with Russia despite Nazi threats, we will increase welfare programs for them. The United States has deployed bases and biological laboratories near our borders and prepared Ukraine for a major war,” the Russian dictator further accused.
Accusations for stealing Russia’s gold
Putin further accused the West for causing price hikes and job losses. “The West stole our Forex and gold reserves. Their purpose is to make our people hurt. Russia’s economy has yet proved to be stronger than they thought. Russia has all the necessary resources (…) The West tried to collapse the ruble, cause inflation, steal reserves, break production chains. The goal of the West is to make our citizens suffer and destabilize society from within. The calculation was not justified.”
The nuclear threat
The training level of the nuclear forces is 91 percent, Putin said, demanding that all other components of the army reach this level of training. “We have better equipment than in the West, we have to produce it on a large scale, internally. We have researchers and specialists”, says Putin and announces a special housing program for these specialists in the armaments industry.”
Putin quotes from Stalin
Putin also spoke about the local elections in Russia this year and the presidential elections next year. In this context, the Russian president quoted from Stalin, and the audience rose to their feet and applauded him.
“We will restore historical justice, this is what our heroes are fighting for,” Putin also said, cynically asking for a moment of silence for “all the soldiers and civilians” who died in the war started by him.
Ukraine retorts
Vladimir Putin demonstrated his “irrelevance and confusion” in Tuesday’s speech to the Russian Federal Assembly, says Mihailo Podoliak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“There are Nazis, Martians and conspiracy theorists everywhere,” Podolyak tweeted.
Podolyak added that through his speech Putin showed that he “lost contact with reality”. “He is in a completely different reality, where there is no chance to have a dialogue about justice and international law.”