Putin defends Ukraine war, claims it’s about ‘survival’ of Russian statehood
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s verbal attack on the West rose to a crescendo for yet another time on Tuesday when he defended the war in Ukraine, saying it is the question of Russia’s very existence as a state.
He made these remarks in a long address to workers at an aviation factory in Buryatia, a mountainous Russian republic in eastern Siberia, some 4,400 km east of the capital city of Moscow.
Russian president said that the Ukraine war is more than just a geopolitical task. “So, for us, this is not a geopolitical task, but a task of the survival of Russian statehood, creating conditions for the future development of the country and our children,” Putin said in his address.
Putin in its speech, which was high in its rhetoric against the West, said that the western nations are actually firing salvos from Ukraine’s shoulders. He called for giving the West a strategic blow. Putin also spoke on the economic implications of the war after the heavy Russian sanctions.
Putin said he had apprehensions at the start when western nations imposed hard-hitting sanctions on Moscow. Russia, however, is still standing and proving stronger than was anticipated, he added.
“We have increased our economic sovereignty many times over. After all, what did our enemy count on? That we would collapse in 2-3 weeks or in a month,” he said.
He said that the West had been vying to bring Russia to its knees by triggering unemployment and forcing workers to protest and take on the streets and that Russia would “sway from within and collapse”.
“This did not happen,” Putin said. “It turned out, for many of us, and even more so for Western countries, that the fundamental foundations of Russia’s stability are much stronger than anyone thought.”
