Putin accuses West of fueling war in Ukraine and destabilising world in latest rant

Vladimir Putin has declared that the ‘age of western domination is over’ and called for a ‘new world order’ in a major foreign policy speech in Moscow.

The Russian leader, laying out his warped view of global politics, accused westerners of ‘fanning the flames’ of war in Ukraine and Taiwan, of sparking a global energy crisis and of causing a food crisis – all allegations that have been levelled at him.

Putin warned the world has entered its most dangerous period since the Second World War and a ‘new world order’ must emerge in which Russia gets a bigger say.

‘The West is no longer able to dictate its will to the humankind but still tries to do it, and the majority of nations no longer want to tolerate it,’ he said. 

‘Dominion of the world is what West has decided to stake in this game. It is a dangerous, deadly and dirty game.’

Vladimir Putin has given another ranting anti-Western speech in Moscow, accusing westerners of fanning the flames of war in Ukraine and of causing an energy crisis

While at points Putin sounded as if he was offering an olive branch – saying Russia ‘is not an enemy of the West’ and ‘only wants the right to develop’ – he made it clear that any talks on his ‘new order’ would have to be on Moscow’s terms.

The West, he said, had repeatedly rejected Moscow’s plans for peace laid out before the war in Ukraine – such as the withdrawal of all NATO troops from ex-Soviet states, against the wishes of their governments – and had instead chosen conflict.

He claimed that he had told the West: ‘Let’s be friends, have dialogue and strengthen trust and peace.’

‘We were completely sincere,’ he added. ‘What did we get in response? A ‘no’ on every possible area of cooperation.’

In fact, the US and NATO had both sent letters to Russia laying out possible grounds for cooperation before Putin invaded Ukraine, which Moscow rejected. 

Russia isn’t the enemy of the West but will continue to oppose the diktat of Western neo-liberal elites, he said, accusing them of trying to subdue Moscow.

‘Their goal is to make Russia more vulnerable and turn it into an instrument for fulfilling their geopolitical tasks, they have failed to achieve it and they will never succeed,’ Putin said.

The Russian president reaffirmed his long-held claim that Russians and Ukrainians are part of a single people and again denigrated Ukraine as an ‘artificial state,’ which received historic Russian lands from Communist rulers during the Soviet times.

Putin laid out his warped version of global events at the Valdai International Discussion Club, saying it is time for a ‘new world order’

A Russian righter jet swoops low over the wreck of a burning fuel train in occupied Ukraine, after it was destroyed in shelling overnight

Firefighters work to extinguish burning fuel tanks of a Russian train sat near the occupied city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine

Speaking about the Ukrainian conflict, Putin said he thinks ‘all the time’ about the casualties Russia has suffered in the conflict, but insisted he was left with no choice but to attack and that Russia would have paid a higher price if it had not acted.

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He denied underestimating Ukraine’s ability to fight back and insisted that his ‘special military operation’ has proceeded as planned.

Putin also acknowleged the challenges posed by Western sanctions, but argued that Russia has proven resilient to foreign pressure and become more united.

The speech is just the latest in a string of ranting addresses that Putin has given since launching his war, laying out his historical grievances, distorted view of current events, and his vision for the future.

He has repeatedly talked of creating a ‘multipolar world order’ in which Western capitals, including Washington, would have to kowtow to Moscow and Beijing.

Accusing the West of trying to ‘cancel’ Russia and its history, he has presented the conflict in Ukraine as an existential struggle for what he presents as ‘Russian values’.

Kyiv argues the Russian invasion is a genocidal mission to both rewrite history – including the fall of the Soviet Union, which Putin called a ‘catastrophe’ – and to ensure Ukraine cannot draw closer to the West.

In his speech, Putin accused NATO of ‘starting to seize the territories of Ukraine long ago’ and insisted he was forced to invade to protect people.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar in the front line near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine

He also launched into a rant against ‘cancel culture’, accusing the West of trying to erase diversity and stamp out whatever it cannot tolerate.

‘Those who formulate [global] rules believe others don’t have right to unique path,’ he told listeners.

‘It is no coincidence that West wants their view accepted as universal, and they insist through their politics of everyone must be accepting these values.’ 

Since the beginning of the war, Putin has passed sweeping censorship laws and jailed anyone who criticses him. 

Russia is now into it ninth month of the Ukraine war and has so-far failed to achieve any of Putin’s war aims, which included the overthrow of the government and the ‘liberation’ of the Donbas region. 

Having fought Russia to a standstill across almost the entire country, Ukraine is now recapturing territory from Putin’s troops.

Thousands of square miles of land in the north and south have been returned to Ukrainian control in recent weeks, with the city of Kherson now within reach.

Kyiv has vowed that it will not stop fighting until all of its land – including areas annexed by Putin in 2014 – has been liberated.

In order to stop the rot, Putin has been forced to mobilise 300,000 reservists into the army and call on allies such as Iran to supply additional weapons.

He has also annexed the Ukrainian territory Russia currently occupies to the mainland, and threatened to use nukes to protect it.

However, that has failed to stop the Ukrainian advanced and has done nothing to weaken Western resolve to supply arms and money to Kyiv.