The world is probably entering the “most dangerous” decade since the end of World War Two, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned, presenting the Ukraine conflict as part of a wider struggle against western domination.
Arguing that Western dominance in global affairs was coming to an end, Mr Putin on Thursday (local time) insisted Russia was not just challenging the West but fighting for its own right to exist.
Mr Putin was speaking as
that Moscow has annexed as its own, and has mobilised more troops to defend.
The situation was “to a certain extent revolutionary”, he said, describing the Ukraine offensive as simply part of the “tectonic shifts of the entire world order”.
“The historical period of undivided dominance of the West in world affairs is coming to an end,” said Mr Putin. “The unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past.”
While the West was still “desperately” trying to govern humanity, it was not able to. “Most peoples of the world no longer want to put up with it,” he said.
And the Russian president characterised the current crisis as a battle for survival for Russia.
‘Dirty bomb’ row
President Putin also returned to the row over Russian allegations that
against its soldiers.
Kyiv was “doing everything to cover up traces of this preparation” for such a bomb, he said.
On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), responding to the allegations, said it regularly visited two sites that Moscow had raised questions over.
The UN agency’s inspectors had found nothing untoward and were preparing to visit again in the coming days, the statement added.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday dismissed any possibility of talks with Moscow, denouncing Mr Putin’s “planned rhetoric”. In late September, he said he would not negotiate with Russia as long as Mr Putin was president.
Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine has met with repeated setbacks.
Mr Putin has in recent weeks changed his military commander there after Kyiv’s forces launched a counter-offensive, recapturing territory in the east.
Last week, Mr Putin introduced martial law in four Ukrainian regions that he has declared annexed: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk.
The annexation announcement came in late September, despite Moscow’s forces not controlling some of the regions fully. Most recently, for example, there has been fierce fighting in the eastern region of Donetsk.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s occupied region of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday ordered phone checks on local residents.
