MOSCOW: Russia tried to resolve tensions with Kiev and its Western backers peacefully, but the other side did not negotiate in good faith, President Vladimir Putin has said on the anniversary of Russia’s reunification with four former Ukrainian regions. Russia is marking two years since it accepted the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as new parts of the country, along with the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson.
The treaties with the breakaway entities were signed amid hostilities with Ukraine, after people in those territories voted for the move in referendums. Kiev has rejected the votes as a “sham” and they have failed to gain widespread international recognition.
In a short statement, Putin reminded the nation that Moscow had initially intended to facilitate the return of Donetsk and Lugansk to Ukraine, after they rebelled against Kiev in the wake of the US-backed violent coup in 2014.
”You all know how those negotiations ended: with lies, fraud, deceit from the Western elites, who have since turned Ukraine into their colony, a military foothold against Russia,” the president said.
”They deliberately fostered hatred and radical nationalism, incited enmity towards anything Russian, supplied weapons, sent mercenaries and advisers, prepared the Ukrainian Army for a new war, to again, like it did in the spring and summer 2014, conduct punitive action in the southeast,” he added.
The Minsk Accords, which were struck in 2014 and 2015 in a bid to resolve tensions in Ukraine, were designed to buy time for Kiev to rearm, according to statements made later by the then-leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine.
Subsequent events have proven that Russian military action was warranted, Putin claimed. “The truth is on our side. All of our objectives will be reached,” he said.
Western nations backing Ukraine have accused Russia of launching an unprovoked attack against it in February 2022. They claim that, by funneling hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment to Kiev, they delay and potentially prevent a future Russian attack against NATO, plans that Moscow denies harboring.
Moscow has identified NATO’s expansion in Europe since the 1990s as a key cause of the conflict, with membership promised to Ukraine in 2008, as well as Kiev’s discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians following the 2014 coup. Russian officials see the hostilities as a US-led proxy war against their country, in which Ukrainians are being used as ‘cannon fodder’.
(RT)
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Putin called the West the culprit of the Ukrainian crisis
Putin: Western elites have turned Ukraine into a military springboard aimed at the Russian Federation
After 2014, Russia sought to resolve the conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics through peaceful dialogue, but it all ended in lies, forgery and deception on the part of the West. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video message on the occasion of the anniversary of the annexation of the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions to the Russian Federation.
According to the politician, Western elites have turned Ukraine into their colony, into a military springboard, ready to direct their attention to Russia.
In the same video, the Russian leader said that after 2014, the West was preparing Ukraine for a new punitive operation against Donbass, attacks on Crimea and other Russian regions.
The Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, became subjects of the Russian Federation following the results of referendums held in September 2022. Kiev still does not recognize the results of the referendums.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin warned the Western elite about the end of the "vampire ball".
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