In his first annual speech since the start of the Ukraine war
.. Putin: It is impossible for us to be defeated in the field, and the West has taken the genie out of its bottle

Afrasianet - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, on Tuesday, the suspension of the "Start" strategic arms control treaty signed with the United States, and accused the West in his annual address to the nation of using the conflict in Ukraine to "eliminate" Russia, saying that Russia today faces an existential threat.

It is impossible to defeat on the battlefield, and it will deal "properly" with turning conflict into a global confrontation. "I am speaking at a difficult and important moment for Russia, in a period of fundamental changes all over the world," Putin said at the beginning of his speech to the country's political elite and military personnel who fought in Ukraine.

In his speech, which came about a year after the start of the war, he made it clear that Western money flows to the war are not receding, and that the West has taken the genie out of the bottle, stressing that "Western elites do not hide their goal: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is, to eliminate us once and for all."

Putin said that the West started the war, and that Western countries led by the United States seek "unlimited power" in international affairs, while Russia tried and is trying to stop it, and that the promises and words of Western leaders were just pretexts to buy time to prepare Ukraine for confrontation, while Russia was It is open and ready for dialogue and seeks security guarantees for all in equality and justice, he said.

He also said that Moscow is defying the West's attempts to destroy the Russian economy through an unprecedented package of sanctions, adding that trillions of dollars are at stake for the West, but Russia's income streams have not dried up.

He explained, "We knew that the next step after Donbass was the attack on Crimea. We are defending our homeland. The West wasted 150 billion dollars to arm Ukraine, and during 2020 it gave poor countries 60 billion dollars. Compare the numbers."

He said, "The West was playing with mixed cards and celebrating its choices, as it is accustomed to spitting on the whole world." "We are not fighting the Ukrainian people, this people has become a captive of the West on the economic, political and military levels," he added, accusing the West of using Ukraine as a "war arena."

He stressed that the greater the range of weapons that the West supplies to Ukraine, the more Russia will push the enemy away from its lands. Referring to international sanctions on his country, Putin considered that the West "has not achieved anything and will not achieve anything," while the Russian economy has resisted better than experts expected, he said.

We have been keen on stabilizing the economic situation and protecting citizens," he added, considering that the West has failed to "destabilize our society."

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, in his speech, that Russia had suspended its participation in the "START" treaty signed with the United States, which places restrictions on the strategic nuclear arsenals of both sides. "In this regard, I feel compelled to announce today that Russia has suspended its participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty," Putin told lawmakers.

The treaty was signed in 2010 by the US and Russian presidents at the time, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev.

The treaty imposes restrictions on the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons by the United States and Russia. It stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads for each of the two parties should not exceed 1550, and 700 strategic launchers.

The agreement was officially signed in the first week of February 2011 after its ratification in the US Congress in December 2010, and in the Russian Duma in January 2011.

The agreement entered into force for a period of 10 years, ending on February 5, 2021. This treaty is the last nuclear arms control process between Washington and Moscow, and it followed the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions of 2002, which expired with the entry into force of the New START Treaty.

Shortly after Putin finished, he announced in Russia that the Russian Foreign Ministry had summoned the US ambassador to Moscow, Lynn Tracy, over what it described as Washington's increasingly "aggressive path", accusing it of expanding its involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.

"In this regard, we informed the ambassador that the current aggressive path of the United States to deepen confrontation with Russia in all respects is counterproductive," the Foreign Ministry added.

It also demanded that the United States provide an explanation regarding explosions that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines last year, and also handed it a request to the United States to withdraw NATO "soldiers and equipment" in Ukraine, in reference to the military assistance that Kiev receives from Western countries. "

It was especially noted that in order to de-escalate the situation, Washington should take steps to withdraw its NATO forces and equipment and stop its anti-Russian activities," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.