President Vladimir Putin stated on Wednesday that Russia would meet its goal in Ukraine and would not submit to what he described as a Western attempt to achieve world hegemony and dismember Russia.
Three weeks into a war that has caused death and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes, Putin said Russia was prepared to talk neutral status for Ukraine. He stated that Russia’s “special military operation” was “going according to plan.”
In a televised speech to government ministers, Putin went further than ever before in acknowledging the economic pain caused by Western sanctions but insisted that Russia could withstand the blow.
His comments against the West and Ukraine showed no signs of easing. “It was feasible that the pro-Nazi regime in Kyiv could have obtained weapons of mass destruction in the near future, and its target, of course, would have been Russia,” Putin said. Putin has repeatedly described Ukraine’s democratically elected leaders as neo-Nazi’s intent on committing genocide against Russian-speakers in the country’s east – a claim the West dismisses as baseless war propaganda.
He claimed that Western countries wished to make Russia a “weak dependent country; infringe its territorial integrity; and dismember Russia in a way that suits them.” If the West thought Russia would break down or back down, Putin said on the 21st day of the war, “they don’t know our history or our people.”
“Hostile geopolitical goals lie behind the so-called collective West’s hypocritical rhetoric and current actions.” They simply do not want a strong and sovereign Russia.”
He stated that Russia was ready to discuss Ukraine’s neutral status in talks: “The question of principle for our country and its future – the neutral status of Ukraine, its demilitarization, and its de-Nazification – we were ready and we are ready to discuss as part of negotiations.”
Ukraine has stated that it is willing to negotiate an end to the conflict but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums. In his most explicit acknowledgement of the pain caused by Western sanctions, Putin stated that inflation and unemployment would rise, and that structural economic changes would be required. He did, however, promise assistance to families with children.
He claimed that the West had effectively declared Russia in default as part of its sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, but that the conflict was merely a pretext for the West to impose those sanctions. “The West doesn’t bother to hide the fact that their goal is to harm the entire Russian economy, every Russian,” Putin said.