Child abuse and paedophilia advertised as norm in the West, alleges Putin

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday alleged that paedophilia is being advertised as the norm in the West. He has been repeatedly critical of western culture, gender norms, and acceptance of homosexuality.

He accused the West of destroying Catholic and family values. He said: "Look at what they do to their own people: the destruction of families, of cultural and national identities, and the perversion that is child abuse all the way up to paedophilia is advertised as the norm. And priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages," reported AFP.

He made the remarks during addressing the nation before the Federal Assembly.

He slammed the recent statement from the Church of England which said it is considering how to refer to God without assigning a gender. Putin said: "The Church of England is considering a version of a 'gender-neutral' God. They don’t know what they’re doing." Criticising same-sex marriages, he said: "The family union is between a man and a woman. They're destroying the institution of family."

His statements come a day after US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv in a show of continued support for Ukraine. Putin today blamed the West for the war and claimed that the conflict was started by Western nations led by the US because they were seeking "unlimited power" in world affairs.

He said Moscow was defying the West's attempts to run the Russian economy through an unprecedented package of sanctions. He noted that trillions of dollars are at stake for the West but Russia's income flow has not dried up.

He claimed his government tried every peaceful means to solve the problem in Ukraine. "We did everything possible, genuinely everything possible, in order to solve this problem (in Ukraine) by peaceful means. We were patient, we were negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs. They (West) intend to translate the local conflict into a global confrontation, we understand it this way and will react accordingly."

Putin has once again vowed to continue the invasion of Ukraine and accused the NATO alliance of "fanning the flames of the conflict" thinking it can defeat Russia. He also claimed that Ukrainians are hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters who have occupied Ukraine in a "political, military, and economic sense".

He further said that it is a "watershed moment" for Russia and it is a "time of cardinal and irreversible changes around the world. He added that it is the most "important historic event that will shape the future of Russia."

The Ukraine war is days away from its first anniversary.