Putin Affirms That Russia Will Withstand Hostility of West

July 8, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin, in remarks yesterday at a meeting in the Kremlin of all of the party and faction leaders in the Duma, argued that Russia has withstood the hostile measures taken by the West against Russia. “The so-called collective West led by the United States has been extremely aggressive towards Russia for decades,” Putin said. He noted that that Russian security proposals for mutual security in Europe were rejected and warnings against the expansion of NATO ignored. “Why? Just because they do not need a country like Russia, that is why,” he said. “That is why they supported terrorism and separatism in Russia, and internal destructive forces and a ‘fifth column’ in our country. All of them are still receiving unconditional support from the collective West.”

“If the West wanted to provoke a conflict in order to move on to a new stage in the fight against Russia and a new stage in containing our country, we can say that it has succeeded to a certain extent,” Putin continued.

“A war was unleashed, and the sanctions were imposed. Under normal circumstances, it would probably be difficult to accomplish this.

“But here is what I would like to make clear. They should have realized that they would lose from the very beginning of our special military operation, because this operation also means the beginning of a radical breakdown of the U.S.-style world order,” Putin stressed. “This is the beginning of the transition from liberal-globalist American egocentrism to a truly multipolar world based not on self-serving rules made up by someone for their own needs, behind which there is nothing but striving for hegemony, not on hypocritical double standards, but on international law and the genuine sovereignty of nations and civilizations, on their will to live their historical destiny, with their own values and traditions, and to align cooperation on the basis of democracy, justice and equality.

“Everyone should understand that this process cannot be stopped. The course of history is inexorable, and the collective West’s attempts to impose its new world order on the rest of the world are doomed.”

“The ruling classes of the Western countries, which are supranational and globalist in nature, realized that their policies are increasingly detached from reality, common sense and the truth, and they have started resorting to openly despotic methods,” Putin proclaimed later in his remarks. “The West, which once declared such principles of democracy as freedom of speech, pluralism and respect for dissenting opinions, has now degenerated into the opposite: totalitarianism. This includes censorship, media bans, and the arbitrary treatment of journalists and public figures.”

“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield,” he said. “Well, what can I say? Let them try. We have already heard a lot about the West wanting to fight us ‘to the last Ukrainian.’ This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but that seems to be where it is going. But everyone should know that, by and large, we have not started anything in earnest yet.

“At the same time, we are not rejecting peace talks, but those who are rejecting them should know that the longer it goes on, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”