Putin says western states ‘changing tune’ on defeating Russia

“They are changing their tune now, saying different things,” the Russian leader told members of the Civic Chamber, a civil society body tasked with consulting the government on policymaking, on Friday.

Putin argued that the nation should become stronger in all aspects, including the economy, military, and political stability. Such strength deters hostile actors from trying to isolate Russia, he said.

“They (EU nations) excluded our energy. So what? What is the result? Our GDP will grow [up to] 3% this year, and the leading European economies are shrinking,” he added.

“They suffer; they have real problems,” Putin added, noting that he was saying this without joy.

“This doesn’t mean that we should behave aggressively. It means we must be sovereign in every sense of the word,” he concluded.

The US and its allies have accused Russia of launching an “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine last year and have pledged to support Kiev for “as long as it takes” to defeat Moscow. Washington has stated that its goal in Ukraine is to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia.

Moscow announced the hostilities were caused by Western refusal to address Russia’s concerns about NATO expansion and Kiev’s discriminatory policies against Russian speakers after the 2014 armed coup. The US allegedly stopped the Ukrainian government from striking a truce in the first weeks of the ongoing conflict, which would have made it a neutral nation.

Kiev has declared that the only outcome it would accept is to push Russia out of all territories that it claims as its own, including Crimea. It has failed to secure any significant gains on the frontline during the so-called summer counteroffensive this year.

“Despite the supply of new kinds of NATO weapons, the Kiev regime is losing,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier this week, assessing the battlefield situation.