Russia-Ukraine war: West is trying to finish off Russia, says Vladimir Putin

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the West's 'attempt at global dominance' is coming to an end as he warned it is trying to 'cancel Russia' with an 'economic blitzkrieg' of sanctions, reports Daily Mail.

He decried the sanctions, describing them as “aggression and war with economic, political, information means.”

The Russian President, speaking in a televised government meeting in Moscow, said that keeping Russia in check was a long-term policy of the West, and that its economic measures were shortsighted as 'most countries do not support sanctions'.

Putin claimed that the conflict had merely been a pretext for the West to impose sanctions because 'they just don't want a strong and sovereign Russia'.

The West doesn't even bother to hide the fact that its aim is to damage the entire Russian economy, every Russian, 'he said, adding that the West's actions would 'only strengthen' Moscow.

“In effect these steps are aimed at worsening the lives of millions of people,” Putin said. As he did so, he also told Russians, in words ironically reminiscent of Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy's speeches, that 'we are fighting for our sovereignty and the future of our children'.

He said Russia was ready to discuss Ukraine's neutral status in talks aimed at ending hostilities, but it would still meet the objectives of its military operation, which was 'going to plan'.

If the West thought that Russia would step back, it did not understand Russia, Putin said on the 21st day of the war against Ukraine. He claimed the operation in Ukraine is unfolding 'successfully, in strict accordance with pre-approved plans' and warned the West is trying to stoke up civil conflict.

In his most explicit acknowledgment of the pain inflicted by Western sanctions, he said inflation and unemployment would rise, but promised support to families with children. Structural changes to the economy would be needed, Putin said, as he accused the West of trying to 'squeeze us, to put pressure on us, to turn us into a weak, dependent country.

Published on: Thursday, March 17, 2022, 08:49 AM IST