Russian President Vladimir
Putin accused the United States on Friday of endangering global
security by imposing a "unilateral diktat" on the rest of the
world and shifted blame for the Ukraine crisis onto the West.
In a 40-minute diatribe against the West that was
reminiscent of the Cold War and underlined the depth of the rift
between Moscow and the West, Putin also denied trying to rebuild
the Soviet empire at the expense of Russia's neighbours.
"We did not start this," Putin told an informal group of
experts on Russia that includes many Western specialists
critical of him, warning that Washington was trying to "remake
the whole world" based on its own interests.
"Statements that Russia is trying to reinstate some sort of
empire, that it is encroaching on the sovereignty of its
neighbours, are groundless," the former KGB spy declared in a
speech delivered standing at a podium, without a smile, in a ski
resort in mountains above the Black Sea city of Sochi.
Listing a series of conflicts in which he faulted U.S.
actions, including Libya, Syria and Iraq, Putin asked whether
Washington's policies had strengthened peace and democracy.
"No," he declared. "The unilateral diktat and the imposing
of schemes (on others) have exactly the opposite effect."
Putin, 62, has stepped up anti-Western rhetoric since
returning to the Kremlin as president in 2012, helping push up
his popularity ratings since the annexation of Crimea from
Ukraine in March.
Even so, the speech was one of the most hostile Putin has
delivered against the West and it appeared partly intended to
show Russian voters he will stand up to the rest of the world
and defend their interests.
The criticisms of a world order dominated by Washington,
more than two decades after the Cold War, recalled a 2007 speech
in Munich in which Putin shocked the West by lambasting
Washington's "unipolar" world view. The speech prompted many
Western leaders to reassess their view of Putin.
SHIFTING THE BLAME
The annual meetings of what is known as the Valdai Club have
rarely featured such open, direct and tough language in their
debates on Russian policy.
Critics say the meetings have become a showcase for Kremlin
policy, with the session attended by Putin shown live on state
television and little discussion of Russia's record on human
rights and democracy, which is criticised in the West.
Putin rejected criticism over the Ukraine crisis, in which
Moscow has sided with pro-Russian separatists in eastern
Ukraine, and threw the West's criticisms of Moscow back in its
face.
Repeating accusations that Western governments helped
pro-Western groups stage a coup d'etat that ousted a pro-Moscow
president in Kiev in February, Putin said: "No one wanted to
listen to us and no one wanted to talk to us."
"Instead of a difficult but, I underline, civilised dialogue
they brought about a state coup. They pushed the country into
chaos, economic and social collapse, and civil war with huge
losses," he said.
Dismissing U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed on
Moscow as a mistake, he said: "Russia will not be posturing, get
offended, ask someone for anything. Russia is self-sufficient."
He made only passing references to the decline of Russia's
$2 trillion economy, which is in danger of sliding into
recession as its currency tumbles along with the price of oil,
its main export item.
But he said in a question and answer session after his
speech that Russia would not burn though its gold and foreign
currency reserves thoughtlessly to prop up the economy.
Putin has increasingly sought to shift blame for the
economic crisis onto global problems, the sanctions and the oil
price. He and other Russian officials, including Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov, have also used increasingly tough
language to blame the West for the Ukraine crisis.
A ceasefire has been in force in Ukraine since Sept. 5, but
it has been violated daily and the West says Moscow continues to
have troops and weapons in east Ukraine. Russia denies this.
(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly, Vladimir Soldatkin,
Alexander Winning, Jason Bush and Gabriela Baczynska; Writing by
Timothy Heritage; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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