“In reality, we are protecting our national interests, those of our citizens and our people,” said the President this Sunday in an intervention on the Rossiya 1 television channel.

“We are willing to agree on acceptable solutions with all those involved in the process, but it is up to them, because it is they, not us, who refuse to negotiate,” Putin said.

The roots of the current armed conflict in Ukraine, in his opinion, lie in the actions of Russia’s geopolitical rivals.

“Divide and rule, is what they have always tried and continue to try now, while we have another goal, to unite the Russian people,” he stated.

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