Russian President Vladimir Putin lashes out at US for prolonging conflict in Ukraine
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Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused Washington of seeking to prolong the conflict in Ukraine and of fuelling conflicts elsewhere in the world, including with the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
He was speaking during a welcome address at a conference in Moscow on international security, Russian state news agency Interfax reported.
"They need conflicts to retain their hegemony," Putin charged. "That's why they have turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder. The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to drag the conflict out, and it acts in exactly the same way trying to fuel conflicts in Asia, Africa, and Latin America."
Putin also claimed that the U.S. was trying to maintain its hegemonic status in the world and that the West wanted to extend its "bloc system" of defense, such as the NATO military alliance, into Asia.
The speech represented the latest attempt by the Russian leader to rally support amid bruising Western sanctions that targeted the Russian economy and finance along with its governance structures, top officials, and businesses for Moscow's action in Ukraine.
Putin also drew parallels between the U.S. backing Ukraine and a recent visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, charging that both were part of an alleged American attempt to foment global instability.
"The American adventure in Taiwan wasn't just a trip by an irresponsible politician. It was part of a deliberate and conscious U.S. strategy intended to destabilize the situation and create chaos in the region and the entire world, a blatant demonstration of disrespect for another country's sovereignty and its own international obligations," Putin said.
The Russian leader claimed that "Western globalist elites" were trying "to shift the blame for their own failures to Russia and China," adding that "no matter how hard the beneficiaries of the current globalist model try to cling to it, it's doomed."
