The West intends to do to Russia what it did to Ukraine and many other nations – turn it into a dying, failed state, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a keynote speech on Thursday.

According to The Iran Project,”The West, which has colonial habits and is used to igniting national conflicts all over the world, has intentions that go beyond stalling our development,” the Russian leader told the Federal Assembly, a gathering of leading Russian officials and public figures.

”In place of Russia, they want a dependent, withering, dying space, where they can do whatever they want,” he added.

The Russian people and its national unity in the face of foreign threats is what protects the nation, according to Putin. Meanwhile, the government has the job of protecting institutions at the foundation of national sovereignty.

”We will not allow anyone to interfere in our domestic affairs,” the president vowed.
Moscow has accused the US and its allies of waging a proxy war on Russia, in which the Ukraine conflict is but one element. Western elites, according to the Russian leadership, cannot accept that a new multipolar world is emerging, in which multiple sovereign power centers will decide the fate of humanity. The West is seeking to contain rising powers, including Russia, by all means at its disposal, from economic restrictions to outright use of military force, according to the Kremlin.

Putin has previously argued that his country was left with “no other choice” but to take action against Ukraine as a result of Kiev’s persecution and violence against ethnic Russian citizens. Meanwhile, NATO members have obstructed Moscow’s calls to resolve their differences over European security. The US-led military bloc has continued to expand towards Russian borders, ignoring its objections, Putin said.