On February 21, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to lawmakers about the state of the country.
Moscow – Today, in his traditional speech to the Russian Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for starting the current conflict in Ukraine. According to him, he tried to destroy Russia, among other things, through economic sanctions and supplied weapons to Ukraine. Russia, on the other hand, tried to solve the situation in Ukraine by peaceful means and stop the war, Putin said. He delivers the speech shortly before the first anniversary of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Putin called the Russian aggression in Ukraine a “war”, although he usually refers to it as a special military operation. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year. The war has since claimed the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, displaced millions more and devastated Ukrainian cities.
“The West started the war. Russia is using force to stop it,” Putin said in a speech, in which, according to earlier expectations, tried to defend the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He emphasized that the West, which, according to him, Russia is trying to destroy, but cannot succeed.
“They must understand that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said. As in the past, the Russian president pointed to the size and strength of the Russian army, which, according to Western military analysts, is facing major problems in Ukraine and facing huge losses.
Putin's most important statements appear in real time on digital screens located on the main streets of Russian cities with more than a million inhabitants, TASS reported. Streets in central Moscow near the historic Gostinnyj dvor shopping center, which Putin chose as the venue for the speech, have been closed since morning.
Guests in the hall, including participants in the fighting in Ukraine, had to isolate themselves before today's speech and get tested for the coronavirus. Their temperature was also measured at the entrance to the building, the Meduza news portal reported.
According to Russian law, the country's president must deliver a message to the federal assembly every year. The last time Putin gave this speech was in April 2021. Last year, the speech was postponed.
