Putin says West's goal is to tear historical regions away from Russia

©Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

The West's project to create an "anti-Russia," which is now being implemented in Ukraine, aims to tear away from Russia the historical regions that are now called Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.

The project to create an "anti-Russia" that the West is now implementing in Ukraine is "not new," Putin stressed. "Let me reiterate that in the 1930s, the West actually paved the way for the Nazis to come to power in Germany, and now they have started to turn Ukraine into an anti-Russia. The project, in fact, is not new. People who know even the least bit of history know perfectly well, this project goes back to the 19th century," the Russian president noted.

"It was nurtured in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, (it was nurtured) by Poland and other countries with one goal: to tear away from our country these historical territories, which today are called Ukraine. This is what this goal is all about, there is nothing new here, no novelty, everyone repeats things," the president stressed.

According to Putin, the West expedited this project by "supporting the 2014 coup" in Ukraine. "After all, the coup was bloody, anti-state, anti-constitutional, but it was as if nothing had happened, as if this is the way," the president pointed out. "They even reported how much money was spent on it.

The president made the comments in a major State of the Union-style address focused on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the broader global security crisis, and domestic social and economic issues.

Russia spent many years seeking a constructive dialogue with the West, and proposing an indivisible, equality-based system of joint security, but received only a "hypocritical" reaction - NATO's expansion to Russia's doorstep, and missile defense umbrellas across Europe and Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Speaking to lawmakers during his address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday, Putin accused the US and its allies of playing the "same double game" in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as they had in the years and decades prior in other countries.

"This disgusting method of deception has used many times before. (The West) behaved just as shamelessly, duplicitously, destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria. They will never be able to wash themselves clean of this shame. The concepts of honor, trust, decency are foreign to them. After many centuries of colonialism, dictate, and hegemony they have become used to everything being allowed to them, have become accustomed to spitting on the entire world; and it turned out that they treat the peoples of their own countries in the same way," Putin said.

"We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialog with the West. We said and insisted that both Europe and the entire world needed an indivisible system of security based on equality for all states. For many years we offered to discuss this idea with our partners and work together on its implementation. In response, we received an indistinct or hypocritical reaction," he said.

The Russian president recalled that as late as December 2021, Moscow "officially sent NATO drafts of an agreement on security guarantees, but received a direct refusal on all points. At that time it finally became crystal clear that the go-ahead for aggression had been given."

The draft security agreements referred to by Putin included provisions aimed at dramatically deescalating tensions between Russia and NATO, including legally binding, written guarantees not to deploy troops, aircraft, warships and missile systems in areas where they might be seen as a threat to the national security of the other side, and a formal request by Moscow that NATO scrap plans to advance into Ukraine and other post-Soviet republics. The US and NATO dismissed Russia's proposals and stressed that the Western bloc wouldn't budge from its "open door" policy for new members.

Ukraine Crisis

Putin stressed that Russia was not at war with the people of Ukraine, that "the people of Ukraine are now hostages to the regime in Kiev and its Western masters," and that thee country is being used as a "tool" and a "launchpad" for a conflict against Russia, complete with foreign military bases and military biolabs on its territory.

"Even before the start of the special military operation, Kiev negotiated with the West on the supply of air defense systems, aircraft and other heavy equipment...We also remember attempts by the Kiev regime to acquire nuclear weapons. After all, they talked about it publicly," Putin said.

"Even before the start of the special military operation, Kiev negotiated with the West on the supply of air defense systems, aircraft and other heavy equipment...We also remember attempts by the Kiev regime to acquire nuclear weapons. After all, they talked about it publicly," Putin said.

Recalling the former German and French leaders' admission that the 2015 Minsk peace deal aimed at bringing the crisis in the Donbass to an end was a mere "bluff" aimed at rearming Ukraine and preparing it for war against Russia, Putin blasted Western officials for behaving "as if they are proud of and revel in their treachery, calling the Normandy format a performance."

As far as the ongoing military operation in Ukraine is concerned, Putin said that "step by step, we will carefully and consistently solve the tasks facing us."

"Since 2014, the people of the Donbass fought, defended their right to live on their own land, speak in their native language, fought and did not give up under blockade and constant shelling, undisguised hatred from the Kiev regime, and believed and waited for Russia to come to the rescue," Putin said.

"I would like to reiterate this: it was (the West) that unleashed the war. And we used force and are using force to stop it," Putin said, recalling how, in the days before Russian forces began the operation in Ukraine a year ago, Kiev poised a massive group of forces in the Donbass in preparation "for another bloody, punitive operation" akin to the 2014-2015 civil war.

"Those who planned new attacks on Donetsk and Lugansk understood clearly that the next goal was a strike on Crimea and Sevastopol. And we knew and understood this. Today, such far-reaching plans are being talked about openly in Kiev. They have opened up, revealing what we already knew perfectly well," Putin said.

The Russian president said that the conflict in Ukraine was about "protecting people's lives, our home, while the goal of the West is unlimited power."

Guns Over Butter

Western countries "have already spent over $150 billion aiding and arming the Kiev regime. For comparison, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries allocated about $60 billion to help the world's poorest nations in 2020-2021. It's clear, yes? $150 billion for war, but for the poorest countries - which are supposedly constantly cared for - $60 billion - and under the well-known demands of obedience on the part of aid recipients. And where has all the talk gone about fighting poverty, about sustainable development and the environment?" Putin asked.

Munich Betrayal

Putin also addressed the recent accusations against Russia made at this year's Munich Security Conference, suggesting that he got the impression that the whole point of the event was to make everyone forget about the West's crimes before the world. ""It was they that let the genie out of the bottle - who plunged entire regions into chaos," Putin said.

The Russian president recalled that according to the US's own calculations, since 2001, US wars have killed nearly 900,000 people, and turned 38 million into refugees. "And today they are trying to erase this from the memory of humanity, are acting as if none of this happened," Putin said. But neither Russia nor the world have forgotten, he added.

"They do not take into account the loss of life and tragedies, of course, because trillions of dollars are at stake - the ability to continue to rob everyone, while hiding behind words about democracy and freedom, to plant neoliberal, inherently totalitarian values, to label entire countries and peoples, to publicly insult their leaders, while suppressing dissent in their own countries, creating the image of an enemy, diverting people's attention from corruption scandals," Putin said.

One Year Anniversary of Special Military Operation

Putin's speech to the Federal Assembly - a State of the Union-style address typically given by the president annually, comes ahead of the one year anniversary of last February's escalation of the long-burning Ukrainian crisis into a full-blown Russia-NATO proxy war. On February 22, 2022, amid fears of an imminent Ukrainian invasion of the Donbass, Moscow recognized the pair of breakaways as independent republics. Later, in the fall, the Donbass republics, as well as Russian-controlled areas of Zaporozhye and Kherson, voted in referendums to become part of Russia.

Russia kicked off its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, citing the need to "demilitarize" the country "de-Nazify" its leadership. Moscow has since outlined terms for ending the conflict - including security for Crimea, the Donbass and other territories, and rock-solid guarantees that Ukraine won't join NATO. The US and its allies actively sabotaged peace talks, and forced Kiev to reject peace with Russia last spring, resulting in the conflict's escalation, and the deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of additional Ukrainian and Russian servicemen and civilians.

Key points from Putin's address to Russia's Federal Assembly:

• Russia suspends its participation in the New START treaty



• Donbass republics believed and expected Russia to come to their rescue



• No other country in the world has such number of military bases abroad as US, there are hundreds of them



• In 1930s, West practically paved the way to power for Nazis in Germany, and now they turned Ukraine into ‘anti-Russia'



• Anti-Russia sanctions are just means, while West's goal is to make Russian people suffer



• Russia was rebuffed every time it asked for security guarantees, and it became clear that the threat [from the West] was growing every day



• Russia is not at a war with Ukrainian people, who became hostage to the Kiev regime



• West not abandoning attempts to ‘incite' post-Soviet states



• West is directly complicit in Kiev's attempts to conduct strikes on Russian strategic objects



• West has already spent $150 billion on military assistance to Ukraine



• As a result of the wars that the United States has unleashed since 2001, almost 900,000 people have died and more than 38 million have become refugees

Russia’s MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

• Russian air defense systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones;



• Russian forces destroyed 100 Ukrainian military personnel near Krasny Liman (DPR);



• Russian forces destroyed up to 50 Ukrainian military personnel, one tank and three vehicles near Kupyansk (Kharkov region);



• Russian troops destroyed over 115 military personnel in Donetsk direction;



• Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 aircraft near the city of Izyum in the Kharkov region;



• Russian forces destroyed up to 60 military personnel in the Donetsk direction and in the Zaporozhye region.

Special operation, 19 February. Main:

• High-precision missiles hit the deployment point of the UAV regiment of Ukrainian troops;



• In the Krasnoliman, Donetsk, Yuzhno-Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, the losses of Kyiv per day amounted to over 530 soldiers killed and wounded;



• Kyiv fired 40 rockets from MLRS at Donetsk, the city center was under fire, 11 people were injured, one died;



• The US administration demands offensive operations from Kyiv to justify the assistance provided, Politico reports;



• Containers with radioactive substances were delivered from Europe to Ukraine for a provocation with the aim of blaming the Russian Armed Forces, the RF Ministry of Defense reported;



• The Russian Defense Ministry denied reports of the "dismissal" of officers of the 1st Donetsk and 2nd Luhansk corps;



• It is to be expected that Putin will pay much attention to the special military operation in his message to the Federal Assembly, Peskov said;



• Head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Wang Yi, said in Munich that China does not want the Ukrainian crisis to prolong and escalate, and believes that all parties should think about how to achieve a ceasefire;



• Blinken said the United States is very concerned that China is allegedly considering the possibility of providing Russia with "lethal" military assistance, warned Beijing of the consequences.