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| The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, delivers his state of the nation speech |
Vladimir Putin has accused the west of trying to contain and subvert Russia “for decades, if not centuries”, in a fierce and uncompromising attack during his state of the nation speech.
Analysts were curious to see whether the president would take a conciliatory tone in his annual speech to Russia’s political elite, as the rouble slides and relations with the west are at a low point over the unrest in Ukraine.
Instead, Putin opened with a fierce defence of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, calling it a “historic rejoining” of a region as important to Russia as Temple Mount was to Jerusalem.
He said that if the recent events in Crimea had not happened, the west would have simply found another excuse to contain Russia with sanctions, recalling that in the 1990s the west had tried to break up Russia “along the Yugoslavian scenario”. He warned that the sanctions and angry rhetoric from the west would only have the opposite effect to that intended.
“For some European countries, national pride is seen as a luxury, but for Russia it is a necessity,” said Putin, adding that it was pointless to use threats when speaking to Russia. Read on and comment » | Shaun Walker in Moscow | Thursday, December 04, 2014
