Clash with Neo-Nazis in Ukraine Was Inevitable, Says Putin

As Putin pointed out, some Western ‘friends’ of Ukraine had driven the situation in that country to a state when it turned to be suicidal for the Ukrainian people and fatal for Russia

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. Russia would have inevitably got into confrontation with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi regime but later it would have had to do that from worse positions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"Russia’s confrontation with the Neo-Nazi regime that emerged on the territory of Ukraine was inevitable. Had we not taken the corresponding actions in February, this would have been all the same but only from worse positions for us," the head of state said.

As Putin pointed out, some Western ‘friends’ of Ukraine had driven the situation in that country to a state when it turned to be suicidal for the Ukrainian people and fatal for Russia.

"We see this just from the nature of combat operations. It is simply surprising what is happening. It generally seems that Ukrainians do not exist. They are thrown into the burner and that’s all," the Russian leader said, describing the situation.

It is Ukraine, the Ukrainian people that are "the first and primary victim of the deliberate instigation of hatred for the Russians and for Russia," he said.

"In Russia, it is the other way round. You know well about that. We have always treated and treat the Ukrainian people respectfully and warmly. This has been and this is the case now, despite today’s tragic confrontation," the Russian leader said.

Russia assumed responsibility for what was happening "in order to prevent a far more serious situation," Putin explained.

"We remembered and remember what happened in 1941 when, despite the intelligence data on the inevitable attack on the Soviet Union, the decisions on taking necessary defense measures were delayed. And the victory over Nazism was achieved at such a heavy price," the head of state said.

Confrontation inside one people

The situation today is also uneasy, the Russian leader said.

"It is also difficult and bitter because actually one people is fighting with each other. In actual fact, there is confrontation within one people, the same as was the case after the 1917 upheavals. And now people have been set against each other again," he stressed.

As the Russian leader pointed out, in the last century, foreign powers benefited from the Civil War in Russia and the tragedy of its people: "they did not care a damn about the Whites and the Reds, they pursued their own interests, were engaged in weakening and tearing historical Russia apart."

"And today, by incessantly supplying weapons to Ukraine, bringing in mercenaries there, they are absolutely ruthless about its citizens. At their expense, they are pushing through their geopolitical goals that have nothing in common with the interests of the Ukrainian people," the Russian leader stressed.

Today efforts also continue that are aimed at weakening, disintegrating and ruining Russia, Putin said.

"They lay the basis of the events that are taking place in Ukraine. We will never allow doing that, we will defend our Fatherland in the same manner as our heroic ancestors did," the Russian leader emphasized.