Vladimir Putin Speech Live
The Russian president said they were open to dialogue with the west and were open to an equal system of security, but “in response, we were getting dishonest answers” and specific actions to expand NATO and deploy new anti-missile systems in Europe. He says “the whole planet is dotted” with US bases.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Putin accuses the west of “an endless flow of accusations against Russia” at the recent Munich security conference and says “the west released the genie from the bottle” as a result of wars, and accuses the west of perpetrating multiple coups.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Putin claims the Ukrainian people had become “hostages of their western masters” who occupied the country in political, economic and military terms. He says “the regime is not serving their national interest. They are serving the interests of foreign powers.”
He says the west is trying to turn a local conflict into a global conflict and “we will react in an appropriate way. We are talking about the existence of our country.”
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Putin says Russia tried to settle the conflict in the Donbas region which had been simmering since early 2014 by peaceful means but was eventually forced to take action.
“We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs, a very different scenario was being prepared,” the Russian leader said.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
“Ukraine and Donbas have become a symbol of total lies,” Putin says, accusing the West of withdrawing from “fundamental agreements” and giving “hypocritical statements” as well as expanding Nato and “covering us with an umbrella”.
“I want to repeat: it is them who are culpable for the war, and we are using force to stop it,” Putin says to great applause.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Putin continues by claiming Russia tried to settle the conflict in the Donbas region by peaceful means.
He says the West’s commitment to peace turned out to be “fraud”, and a “cruel lie” and claims Kyiv was trying to gather biological and nuclear weapons.
“We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs, a very different scenario was being prepared.
“They [the West] were just playing for time, closing their eyes to political assassinations, mistreatment of believers,” he said.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech said that Ukraine used peace deals with its Western allies to strengthen its military.
Putin is delivering a major speech to Russia’s elite to give his analysis of the international situation and give an assessment of what he calls a “special military operation”.
Putin also added that Russia was sincerely looking for a peaceful resolution for Donbas.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
Belarus says there is a “significant grouping” of Ukrainian forces at its border.
“At present, a significant grouping of the Ukrainian army is concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the Belarusian-Ukrainian section of the state border,” the defence ministry said in a post on Telegram.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
A Russian-state-owned news agency says the Kremlin kept a close eye on US President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv yesterday.
However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the visit as “nothing extraordinary”.
Peskov also added that Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be watching Biden’s address in Poland later today.
Vladimir Putin Speech Live
The Italian government is confidentially examining options for sending military jets to Kiev, according to a report.
A deal involving up to five planes could be struck during Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s upcoming visit to the Ukrainian capital, Russia Today reported citing an article in Italian daily La Repubblica.