Putin Details Why Attempts To Destroy Russia from Within Will Not Succeed

March 17, 2022 (EIRNS)—During his March 16 opening remarks to the videoconference “Meeting on Socioeconomic Support for Regions,” President Vladimir Putin explained why the West’s “geopolitical designs” to destroy Russia from within will not succeed:

“They will back the so-called fifth column, national traitors—those who make money here in our country but live over there, and ‘live’ not in the geographical sense of the word but in their minds, in their servile mentality.

“ I do not in the least condemn those who have villas in Miami or the French Riviera.... The problem, again, is that many of these people are, essentially, over there in their minds and not here with our people and with Russia. In their opinion—in their opinion!—it is a sign of belonging to the superior caste, the superior race. People like this would sell their own mothers just to be allowed to sit on the entry bench of the superior caste. ... But they forget or just completely fail to see that even if this so-called superior caste needs them, it needs them as expendable raw material to inflict maximum damage on our people....

“But any nation, and even more so the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like an insect in their mouth.... I am convinced that a natural and necessary self-detoxification of society like this would strengthen our country....

“The so-called collective West and its fifth column are accustomed to measuring everything and everyone by their own standards. They believe that everything is for sale and everything can be bought, and therefore they think we will break down and back off. But they do not know our history and our people well enough.

“Indeed, many countries around the world have long put up with living with their backs bent, obsequiously accepting all the decisions that come from their sovereign, looking up to it subserviently. This is how many countries live. Unfortunately, in Europe, as well.

“But Russia will never be seen in such a miserable and humiliated situation, and the fight we are waging is the fight for our sovereignty and the future of our country and our children. We will fight for the right to be and remain Russia. The courage and fortitude of our soldiers and officers, the faithful defenders of the Fatherland, should inspire us.”