West supporting separatism, terrorism because they don't need Russia as country: Putin

As the Western nations continue to stand against Moscow and support war-ravaged Ukraine by providing significant military and monetary aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday stated that the West does not want a country like Russia, and this is why they have been supporting 'separatism and terrorism.' While speaking at a meeting with the leaders of a Kremlin-associated panel, Putin said, "Even the very idea of Russia’s possible integration into that North Atlantic alliance at a stage of our, as it seemed then, cloudless relations with NATO, judging by all appearances, seemed absurd to its members," reported Russian news agency TASS.

He further stressed that the US and its partners simply don’t need a country like ours and "this is precisely why they supported terrorism, separatism in Russia, internal destructive forces and the ‘fifth column' in our country." They all have been receiving and are receiving to this day unconditional support on the part of that very collective West," he concluded.

West does not want a country like Russia, says Putin

Pointing out the United States, Putin said that Washington-led West has been behaving aggressively against Russia for decades. Russia's proposal of establishing a system of equitable security in Europe was also rejected, the leader said. He added that the West also declined their initiative on joint work on the issue of anti-missile defense. 

"The so-called collective West led by the US has been behaving exclusively aggressively with regards to Russia for decades." TASS quoted Putin as saying, "Our proposals on creating a system of equitable security in Europe were rejected, initiatives on joint work on the issue of anti-missile defence were declined, and the warnings of the inadmissibility of NATO’s expansion, especially at the expense of the former Soviet Union republics, were ignored," Putin asserted.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, the Kremlin leader also accused the West of being a "direct instigator and perpetrator of war in Ukraine." While addressing an internal conference held at the Catherine's Hall of the Kremlin with State Duma officials and heads of political parties of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Putin lambasted the Western nations, stating that the conflict with Ukraine was "instigated" by the Western nations that attempted a coup d'état of the 2014 far-right Ukrainian government, in which they ousted the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Putin also invited the West to fight a war, saying that if the West thinks it can defeat Russia on the battlefield, it is welcome to try. He slammed the US and its allies for showing "unfriendly and hostile actions" against Russia.