West Has Cultivated Idea of Russia’s Collapse for Decades But Won’t Live to See It Transpire: Putin

Diplomatic relations between Russia and the West deteriorated to a post-Cold War low point after the start of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, and have hinged on the brink of collapse since Moscow began a military special operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

The collective West has dreamt about and worked toward the collapse of Russia for many, many years, but will never live to see such a thing transpire, President Vladimir Putin has said.

"For decades, Western countries have consistently cultivated the idea of the collapse of the Soviet Union, historical [prerevolutionary] Russia, and Russia as it is, its core," Putin said, speaking to reporters on Friday at the conclusion of his visit to Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Summit.

"The West won't live to see Russia's collapse," Putin stressed.

"That they have always striven toward the disintegration of our country is a fact. It's only regrettable that the idea arose at some point to use Ukraine to achieve this goal," Putin said.

The president said that the military operation in Ukraine was designed specifically to stop such a scenario. "This was precisely what some Western countries led by the United States have striven for and are striving toward - to create this kind of anti-Russian enclave and to destabilize and threaten Russia from this direction," he said.

Key Objectives in Ukraine

Moscow's main goal today is to prevent such an eventuality from developing, Putin said, adding that the key objective of Russia's military operation in Ukraine is to liberate the Donbass.

Commenting on the recent bombastic statements coming out of Kiev on their offensive operations, the Russian president urged a wait and see approach. "Authorities in Kiev have announced that they have launched and are carrying out an active counteroffensive operation. Let's see how it will develop, how it will end," he said.

Putin said that the special operation's overall plan won't see any major alterations. "The plan is not subject to adjustment, the General Staff makes operational decisions during the operation...This work continues despite these counteroffensive attempts by the Ukrainian military," he said.

Putin emphasized that Moscow is "in no hurry" to reach its objectives, and using only contract troops, not the full force of the Russian army.

Putin accused Kiev of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks, including attacks inside Russia and on Russian nuclear facilities, but said that the latter have so far been thwarted.

"For the time being, Russia's response to the Ukrainian attacks on infrastructure has been restrained. But if the situation continues to develop in this way, the response will be more serious," he warned.

Russia Ready to Talk, Ukraine Isn't: Putin

The president reiterated his willingness to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky, but said that for such a meeting to take place, Kiev would have to agree to it first.

Putin recalled that Moscow and Kiev seemed to have been on the verge of reaching an agreement on security guarantees in the spring in Istanbul before the Ukrainian side walked out of the negotiations.

"Our troops were withdrawn from the Kiev direction to create conditions for concluding such an agreement. Instead, the authorities in Kiev immediately abandoned all agreements, threw them in a box, and announced that they would not seek any agreements with Russia, but victory on the battlefield. Well, be our guests," Putin said.

Putin stressed that Russia was "serious" about the security guarantee idea hammered out in the course of talks in the spring, and recalled that guarantees were required from Russia, major Western powers and Turkey. "In general, we agreed with this. There were some things that required minor adjustments, but we agreed in general. This was a very important demand but Kiev authorities then delayed it," he lamented.

Asked to comment on Kiev's latest proposal - which includes security guarantees for Ukraine, but does not include Russia, and does not drop Kiev's aspirations to join NATO, Putin said he is not familiar with the document.

'Ugly' European Decision

Putin also commented on other matters, including the decision by the European Commission to leave restrictions on the supply of Russian grain and fertilizers to developing nations in place.

"[The Europeans] are solving their own problems at someone else's expense. The same applies to the export of our fertilizers. This is an unprecedented, ugly decision the the European Commission, simply shameful. To lift the ban on the purchase of our fertilizers, but only for their own countries, for EU member states. And what about the world's poorest countries?" the president asked.

"What about all the rhetoric that our joint efforts should be aimed at preventing hunger in these poor nations? Is it all a bluff?" Putin added.

Putin expressed hope that Brussels would "have enough common sense" to mend its ways.

Commenting on the Russian-Ukrainian grain deal signed in July through Turkish and the United Nations mediation and designed to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain supplies via the Black Sea, Putin called on the agreement's participants to facilitate its implementation, and said that so far, UN chief Antonio Guterres has not succeeded in assuring that the foodstuffs actually go to the countries which need them.

Moscow has previously threatened to walk out of the grain deal if its concerns aren't addressed.

Gas Guarantees and Green Agenda

On the issue of the continued shutdown of the Nord Stream 1, Putin said that Russian gas giant Gazprom will require legal guarantees before it picks up and installs the turbine for its gas pipeline assuring that the piece of equipment is its property to prevent Siemens from selling it off to a third country.

Nord Stream 1 was shut down in late August after the last of its turbines was shut down for maintenance. The gas pipeline was the last major route for Russian energy supplies to Europe after the European Union, Germany, Poland and Ukraine took measures to cut off other oil and gas pipeline routes. Last week, Putin stressed that Moscow would be ready to turn Nord Stream 1 and 2 "tomorrow" if this was agreed to by Berlin.

Brussels and London have nevertheless blamed Russia for the current energy crunch, and accused Moscow of "using energy as a weapon."

Putin suggested that the 'energy weapon' claims were a tool designed to distract ordinary Europeans from their governments' own mistakes in the energy sector, and pointed out that energy prices began long before Russia kicked off its military operation in Ukraine.

"The energy crisis didn't begin with Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, in the Donbass, but much earlier - a year or even more. Strange as it may seem, it began with the 'green' agenda," Putin said.

The Russian president emphasized that although addressing climate change and pollution are indeed admirable and important measures which need to be implemented, Brussels has done so in a way that ended up undermining their own energy security.

"It needed to be done carefully, in stages. Instead, pursuing immediate political conjecture, they decided to totally curtail hydrocarbon energy! Banks stopped giving out loans, local authorities stopped allocating land for future development, stopped implementing construction plans, and investments in energy decreased. But all this began to take place several years ago," Putin pointed out.