Vladimir Putin persists and signs. Almost a year to the day after the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the president held a major speech to the nation on Tuesday. He took the opportunity to again accuse Western countries of being responsible for the war. “I am speaking to you in a complicated context”he first said (see video at the top of this article). “A year ago, to defend the people in our historic lands, to neutralize the threat launched by the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine, it was decided to launch a special military operation.”
A conflict caused, according to him, by the allies of kyiv. “We were open to a frank dialogue”according to Vladimir Putin. “We believe in the indivisible security system. We have proposed to address the issues of its implementation. In response, we have always obtained a hypocritical and unfriendly reaction: the enlargement of NATO, the deployment of missile launchers at our borders…”