Putin promises to defend Russia and “confront the West” until he dies

Vladimir Putin has vowed to “go to the end” to defend Russian interests and confront the West “until his death.”

The 71-year-old Russian president was filmed with champagne as he honored Russia’s new heroes after their fight in Ukraine.

Putin’s new pledge came as images emerged of him ruling out sending troops to Ukraine exactly a decade ago as “complete nonsense.”

He vowed to continue his war, declaring in new images released overnight: “The Motherland has given all of us, including myself, the opportunity and rewarded us with the opportunity to stand up and work for our country and our people.”

“This is a reward from the Motherland for each of us. And all of us, including myself, will persevere to the end and defend the interests of the country.”

Putin stood next to his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief General Valery Gerasimov.

“It is obviously very important for me to hear this from the people who are on the front lines,” he added.

Putin has avoided visiting his troops under fire during the war, unlike Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

That speech came shortly before Putin gave another speech to his intelligence services – marking Russia’s Security Service Personnel Day – in which he demanded they step up their efforts to counter a so-called “Western threat” to his country rowing.

In the run-up to the March 2024 presidential elections, Putin continued to portray Russia as an existential threat to the West and Ukraine.

He told his security services: “Of course we must thwart all attempts by foreign intelligence services to destabilize the social and political situation in Russia.”

He warned that the West wanted to “undermine civil peace and interethnic agreements, interfere in our internal affairs and violate the sovereign and immutable right of the Russian people to determine their own future.”

Putin called for “more active involvement” in “fighting extremism, corruption and threats in cyberspace.”

Putin’s war in Ukraine has already claimed more than 300,000 Russian victims, although he promised in 2013 that a plan to invade Ukraine “cannot exist.”

But two months later he began conquering Ukrainian territory in Crimea, followed by parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

He then launched a full-scale invasion in 2022 that was intended to capture Kiev in three days, but is still ongoing 22 months later.

At the time, in December 2013, he said: “We are not indifferent to the situation of our compatriots.” [in Ukraine].

“But that in no way means that we will wave swords and send troops.” This is complete nonsense, such a thing does not exist and cannot exist.

“And if we really say that [Ukraine] “If we are a brotherly people and a brotherly country, we must act like close relatives and support the Ukrainian people in a difficult situation.”

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