Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the United States and its allies of “add fuel to the fire” in the conflict in Ukraine and other regions of the world.
“The United States seeks, among other things, to redefine the system of relations between countries that has developed in the Asia-Pacific region,” said the president, who again baselessly called Ukraine, the country that invaded last year. “In the example of Ukraine it is clear what this policy of adding fuel to the fire leads to. Injecting billions of dollars into the neo-Nazi regimegiving equipment, weapons, ammunition, sending military advisers and mercenaries, everything possible is being done to further ignite the conflict,” the Russian president said in a recorded message to the participants in the XI Moscow Conference on International Security.
The Kremlin chief added that there are latent sources of tension in other regions of the world and that “all of them are generated by the geopolitical adventures, selfish, neocolonial actions of the West.”
Russia’s defense minister added to this rhetoric by saying that Ukraine is “almost exhausted” and noting that the war has exposed vulnerabilities in Western defense systems. Sergei Shoigu admitted that the Ukraine conflict has been a serious test for Russia.
But “the Russian military has debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards,” Shoigu boasted in a public speech, according to a text provided by his ministry in which he did not provide detailed evidence to back up any of his statements.