Putin in speech: “West has lost a sense of reality. We did not start the so-called war” | War Ukraine and Russia

“We did not start the so-called war in Ukraine,” Putin said in a speech at a meeting in Sochi, on the Black Sea. “On the contrary – we are trying to end him,” he claimed.

The West may have caused the war because the United States considers itself the sole arbiter of truth on the planet, the Kremlin leader said. According to Putin, the leaders of the West have lost “their sense of reality” because of what he called Washington’s “colonial thinking.” He wondered what right the US has to lecture other countries. He lashed out at Western “hegemony”.

Russia’s mission is to build a “new world”, the president said during his speech on Thursday. In this view, according to Putin, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a “territorial conflict,” but an event that should determine the “principles” on which the new world order will be based.”

“We have no interest in recapturing territory,” said Putin, who nevertheless demanded the annexation of four regions in Ukraine in September 2022, after that of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

Putin further accused the West of diabolizing China and creating an environment “hostile to Muslims.” “They are trying to portray a hostile image of all those who are unwilling to follow Western elites.” According to the Russian president, the time when the West could impose its will on other countries, such as during colonialism, is “long gone” and that era will “never” return.

Russia wants to live in an “open world”, says Putin, in which international relations are freed from the “logic of blocs” and based on “collective solutions”.