West 'completely' responsible for fueling the Ukraine conflict, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his address to the nation on Tuesday, blamed the West for the escalation of what Putin repeated as Moscow's 'special military operations' into a full-fledged war."They (the West) started the war," Putin said, while citing alleged Nazi-inspired troop galvanisation in the Donbas region and consolidation of the US and NATO positions 'near Russia's border'.

"The responsibility for fuelling the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of victimslies completely with Western elites," Putin said in his address ahead of the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war."Western elites are not hiding their goal - to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. It means to be done with us once and for all," Putin said.

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Meanwhile, a top US official on Tuesday described President Vladimir Putin'saccusations that Russia had been threatened by the West"absurdity."

"Nobody is attacking Russia. There's a kind of absurdity in the notion that Russia was under some form of military threat from Ukraine or anyone else," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

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Putin further alleged that the Ukrainian government is protecting the interests of its "Western masters" and is not serving its own national interests.

"The Kyiv regime and their Western masters have completely taken over the economy of the country," the Russian president claimed.

"They have destroyed the Ukrainian industry and economy," he said.

Putin added that the "material state" of those living in Ukraine has degraded.

"They are responsible for the escalation of the situation in Ukraine for the huge numbers of casualties," said Putin.

"And of course, the Kyiv regime is essentially alien to the people of Ukraine. They are not protecting their own interests, but those of their minder countries."

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Putin also said that the West's sanctions have failed to derail the country's war-effortand claimed that they have notdestabilised its economy.

"The Russian economy turned out to be more stable than they thought in the west,"Putin said. "The anti-Russian sanctions are just a means. Theirend is to make the people of Russia suffer. But the calculations of these western 'humanists'were faulty," he said.

Russia’s gross domestic product fell by just 2.1 per cent in 2022, boosted by rising prices for its energy exports that helped offset much of the blow from the sanctions.

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