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| ‘Certain forces’ in the West spent years plotting against Russia – Putin | |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| Foreign powers had used Ukraine to target Russian statehood, the president said | |
| Western countries have spent years steering Ukraine towards a conflict with Russia, as they planned to use Kiev as a tool to undermine Russian national security, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. He argued that Russia’s retaliation, including its ongoing military operation in the neighboring state, was justified. | Western countries have spent years steering Ukraine towards a conflict with Russia, as they planned to use Kiev as a tool to undermine Russian national security, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. He argued that Russia’s retaliation, including its ongoing military operation in the neighboring state, was justified. |
| “This problem was not created yesterday. It was instigated by certain forces in the West, which for a long time were preparing a hybrid war against our country, and did everything to transform Ukraine into an instrument of undermining the foundations of the security of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a meeting with the members of the African peace mission in St. Petersburg, following the two-day Russia-Africa Summit. | “This problem was not created yesterday. It was instigated by certain forces in the West, which for a long time were preparing a hybrid war against our country, and did everything to transform Ukraine into an instrument of undermining the foundations of the security of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a meeting with the members of the African peace mission in St. Petersburg, following the two-day Russia-Africa Summit. |
| The president added that the West had planned to use Kiev to “damage Russia’s positions on the world stage, and to undermine our statehood.” | The president added that the West had planned to use Kiev to “damage Russia’s positions on the world stage, and to undermine our statehood.” |
| The US and its allies in the EU backed the 2014 coup in Kiev that ousted democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovich. Putin reiterated Russia’s longstanding position that it was the turning point of the crisis. “It was indeed a bloody, armed anti-constitutional coup, actively supported by the Western countries, which discarded all norms of international law,” the Russian president said. | |
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