Putin Admits Naively Believed There Would Be No Confrontation Between West & Russia

© Sputnik . Ramil Sitdikov / Go to the mediabankRussian President Vladimir Putin at the IV Railway Congress in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the IV Railway Congress in Moscow. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 17.12.2023
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The Russian authorities, and Putin in particular, have repeatedly pointed to the aggressive policy of the West and the NATO military bloc toward Moscow after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, breaking their promise of non-expansion toward Russia's borders.
Russian President Putin said on Sunday that in the early 2000s, he had a naive idea that the world has changed, that there is no ideological confrontation, and no grounds for conflict between the West and Russia.

"I had a naive idea that the whole world and especially the so-called, now I say with absolute conviction, the so-called civilized [world] understands what happened to Russia, that it has become a completely different country, that there is no ideological confrontation anymore, which means there is no basis for confrontation," Putin told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

He added that he sees negative actions in the policies of Western countries towards Russia, in particular, support for separatism and terrorism on Russia’s territory, but believed that this was "simply the inertia of thinking and action."
"But the reality is, later I became 100% convinced of this, that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they [in the West] thought that they had to be patient – ‘we would collapse Russia too," Putin said.
The West wanted to destroy Russia, divide it into parts, subjugate it and use its resources, "as US politician Brzezinski suggested," the Russian leader said.
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Putin went on to address US President Joe Biden's remarks about a possible Russian attack on NATO countries as "nonsense," adding that Biden himself probably understands this.
"This is nonsense. I think President Biden realizes this as well. This is just a figure of speech to justify his erroneous policy on the Russian direction," Putin stressed.
Russia is interested in developing relations with NATO countries and does not want to spoil these relations, at the moment Russia and these countries do not have any territorial claims against each other, Putin added.
"Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, no economic, political or military interest – to fight NATO countries," Putin said.
The president of any NATO country, especially the president of the United States, which is the "sole host of NATO," understands this, Putin added.
Russia has no problems with NATO countries, they are the ones who create problems unnecessarily because they do not want such a competitor as Moscow, Putin said.
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Nevertheless, the Western countries will have to find common ground with Russia, because they will have to reckon with Moscow, Putin is sure.

“They will have to find common ground with us, because they will have to reckon with us,” the Russian president said.

The current round of confrontation between Russia and the West resulted in Moscow launching a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the purpose of which was the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of the neighboring country, with the Kiev regime declaring in early 2022 its intention to restore the nuclear arsenal and join NATO.
Since then, Russia has stated numerous times that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries. And the whole confrontation is not with Kiev, but with the entire geopolitical West's aggressive policies.
Putin earlier noted that the special operation was a coercive measure, Russia “was left no chance to do otherwise, security risks were created such that it was impossible to respond by other means.”
According to him, Russia has been trying for 30 years to come to an agreement with NATO on the principles of security in Europe, but in response it has been faced with either cynical deception and lies, or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the alliance, meanwhile, despite Moscow’s protests, has been steadily expanding and approaching its borders.
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