Atlanta, USA (CNN) – Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday that Russia did not start the war in Ukraine but was trying to end it, in a speech in which he repeated many of his previous verbal attacks on Ukraine and the West.
Putin said in his speech at the “Valdai Discussion Club” forum in the city of Sochi overlooking the Black Sea, southern Russia: “I have repeatedly said that we did not start the so-called war in Ukraine, but on the contrary, we are trying to end it.”
The Russian President reminded those present of Ukraine’s “revolution” in 2014, which he calls a “bloody and unconstitutional coup.”
Putin went on to say that Russia was able to make a “significant contribution to the new world order” after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but some misread its willingness to “surrender.”
The Russian President added: “Unfortunately, some have misunderstood our readiness for constructive engagement as surrender, as approval of a new order that will be built by those who declared themselves victors in the Cold War.”
According to Putin, the Russian president offered Moscow to join NATO, which the bloc rejected.
Putin used the speech to harshly criticize the United States and Ukraine’s other Western allies, saying that “the West has lost its sense of reality.”
In his scathing remarks, the Russian president also said that US involvement in Ukraine is a “manifestation of colonial thinking.”
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2023-10-05 15:36:26
