Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to the Russian nation a short time ago (Tuesday), which he opened with the words: “Each of us has a great responsibility to protect our historic country… In 2014 we decided on a special operation. Since then, the Donbass has been fighting for the right to preserve itself and its language – They fight and don’t give up.”
Putin also said: “We were tolerant and did everything to end this conflict peacefully – but they only bided their time and tried to turn a blind eye to the killings of the government in Kiev, abuse and a terrorist regime in the Donbass.”
Following this, he added: “We were very open to dialogue with the West… In response, we received dishonest answers. In the meantime, NATO’s borders expanded and weapons began to be transferred to Russia’s borders.
In December 2021, we officially submitted our request regarding our security – but we received a refusal to our proposals and it became clear that the reaction was devastating – and we had no choice… The Kyiv government took up arms and attacked the Donbass since 2014, and in 2015 they attacked civilians with terrorist raids.”
After Putin claimed that Russia had shown a willingness to dialogue with the West for years, but was ignored and rejected; He said: “I want to remind you – they started the war and we are trying to stop it”, thus earning applause from the audience.