Putin Targets US In Key Address To Russia's Parliament: 'People Of Ukraine Have Become Hostage'

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in one of his most anticipated speeches to his country’s political and military elite, said Moscow would continue the war in Ukraine.

What Happened: Putin on Tuesday criticized the U.S. for supporting Ukraine and said the West was preparing to turn Ukraine into a launchpad bristling with weapons to attack Russia. 

Russia would “carefully and consistently resolve the tasks facing us,” said Putin.

The Russian president once again defended his invasion of Ukraine and said Russia is not in a fight with the Ukrainian people but rather with the Kyiv regime and the West. 

See Also: Putin’s Belarusian Ally Lukashenko Orders To Prepare Volunteer Military Force: ‘The Situation Is Not Easy’

“I have already said many times that the people of Ukraine have become the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords, who have effectively occupied this country in the political, military and economic sense…Today’s Ukrainian regime essentially serves not the national interests but those of third countries.”

He added that the people of ​​the Donbas region expected that "Russia would come to their rescue."

"We did our best to solve this problem by peaceful means. We patiently tried to negotiate a peaceful way out of this most difficult conflict, but a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs,” Putin said.

Slamming the Western sanctions, Putin said the U.S. and Europe — not Moscow — were crippling because of the curbs they imposed on Russia. “They (Western countries) want to make the (Russian) people suffer… but their calculations did not materialize. The Russian economy and the management turned out to be much stronger than they thought.”

Meanwhile, Russia's economy reportedly narrowed by 2.1% last year against expectations of a major recession.

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