Putin Speaks On Geopolitics & Ukraine Conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking on the invasion of Ukraine ('special military operation') and geopolitics at the Valdai Discussion Club. Livestream here. Putin claims that "Attempts to establish a monopoly in world affairs are doomed to fail...Russia's proposals have been ignored by the West....NATO did not want Russia to join it...the problem is arrogance...Russia has to respond to pressure...Russia did not start war in Ukraine, we try to stop it....Kyiv started the war in the Donbas."

• Putin: "The West has lost its sense of reality...Ukrainian conflict its not about gaining territories...The issue is about global order...The West always needs and enemy, that's to explain the use of force."
• Putin: "The West makes an image of the enemy of any country which is against it, including Arab countries, China, and even India."
• Claims that the West is attempting to replace international law with a new 'international order'. Says the 'rules' created by the West, mainly the US, are illegitimate. States that the "United States is teaching the world how to behave, that's colonial thinking...What right do you [the US] have to lecture others? It's time to get rid of this colonial thinking"