Russia wanted peace in Ukraine but West had other ideas, says Putin in speech on war
MOSCOW - Russia President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to continue with his country’s year-long war in Ukraine and accused the US-led Nato military alliance of fanning the flames of the conflict in the mistaken belief that it could defeat Moscow in a global confrontation.
People gather for Mr Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly at the Gostiny Dvor conference centre in Moscow, on Feb 21. PHOTO: EPA-EFE “The people of Ukraine have become the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords, who have effectively occupied this country in the political, military and economic sense,” Mr Putin said. “They intend to translate the local conflict into a global confrontation, we understand it this way and will react accordingly.”
The Russian President warned the West may incite a backlash over money flows to the war that were “not diminishing”. He asked the audience, which included lawmakers, soldiers, spy chiefs and state company bosses, to stand to remember those who had lost their lives in the war. He promised a special fund for the families of those killed in the war.
“We all understand, I understand how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who raised worthy defenders of the Fatherland,” he said.
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