West wants ‘to be done’ with Russia - Putin

RUSSIA – President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the West of using the Ukraine conflict to ‘be done’ with Russia, said traitors must be punished, and proclaimed that Moscow had successfully withstood Western sanctions.

“Western elites are not hiding their goal ² to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. It means to be done with us once and for all,´ Putin said three days before the first anniversary of the military intervention in Ukraine.

“The responsibility for fuelling the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of victims« lies completely with Western elites,´ Putin said, repeating his claim that the West was supporting neo-Na]i forces in Ukraine.

“Russia remains determined to fulfil all its tasks in Ukraine,´ Putin said.

His army has faced a long series of humiliating defeats over the past year, even after the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists last September.

“To ensure the security of our country, to eliminate the threat that came from the neo-Na]i regime that emerged in Ukraine after the 0 coup, it was decided to conduct a special military operation,´ he said.

Carefully

“Step by step, we will carefully and systematically solve the aims that face us.´

Speaking in front of the political elites and servicemen who fought in Ukraine, Putin also ‘thanked the entire Russian people for their courage and determination’.

He, however, did not detail his strategy to win on the ground in Ukraine, nor did he elaborate on Russian military losses ² which the West and Ukraine said were huge.

([perts have pointed out that the Russian economy weathered Western sanctions over Moscow’s military intervention better than e[pected.

“They have not succeeded and will not succeed,´ Putin said.

“We ensured the stability of the economic situation and protected our citi]ens,´ Putin added, slamming Western attempts to ‘destabilise our society’.

Russian official data on Monday showed the economy contracted by

. per cent last year despite sanctions ² far less than had been e[pected.

Putin predicted inflation would soon stabilise around its target level of four per cent.

Referring to the Russian billionaires whose assets, foreign accounts and yachts have been sei]ed, Putin said that ‘no one among ordinary people felt sorry for them’.

“(veryone must understand that the sources of well-being and the future should be only here, in their native country Russia.´

“Invest in Russia,´ he urged, “the State and society will support you.´

Pressure

Putin also indicated that Russian authorities could ramp up pressure on dissenters, saying traitors must be brough to justice.

“Those who have embarked on the path of betrayal of Russia must be held accountable under the law,´ Putin said.

However, he added that authorities would not unleash a ‘witch hunt’ against dissenters.

Since the beginning of the offensive, the Russian *overnment has cracked down hard on what little remained of the opposition.