One day after US President Joe Biden visited Ukraine, Russia's Vladimir Putin in his address to the nation accused the West of 'escalating the situation in Ukraine'.
His speech comes three days before the first anniversary of Russia's 'special military operation' in Ukraine where he said, 'The responsibility for fuelling the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of victims... lies completely with Western elites.'
Addressing an audience of lawmakers, state officials and soldiers who have fought in Ukraine, he said, 'Officers of nationalist battalions have been trained in Western academies and schools, they (Western countries) have supplied weapons. I want to stress that Kyiv held talks with the West about the delivery of air defence systems, combat aircraft and other heavy equipment before the start of the special military operation.'
He accused the West of trying to turn a local conflict into a global conflict and asserted that Russia's invasion was appropriate.
"We remember attempts of the Kyiv regime to get (a) nuclear weapon, they spoke about it publicly. The United States and NATO have rapidly deployed their army bases near the borders of our country," Putin added.
(with AP, AFP inputs)
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