Putin Reveals Western Goal Is To Weaken and Divide Russia

Dec. 23, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin again at the Dec. 21 Defense Ministry Board meeting following the report of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He stressed that the goal of Russia’s strategic adversaries “is to weaken and divide our nation” and that this has been the case for centuries. “They believe that our country is too large and poses a threat, which is why it must be diminished and divided,” he said.

“Wherever you look, this has been their goal over the past centuries. ... They have always nurtured this idea and such plans, hoping that they will be able to implement them, one way or another.

“For our part, we have always or nearly always pursued a completely different approach and had different goals: We have always wanted to be part of the so-called civilized world. After the Soviet Union’s dissolution, which we ourselves allowed to take place, we thought for some reason that we would become part of that so-called civilized world any day. But it turned out that nobody wanted this to happen, despite our efforts and attempts, and this concerns my efforts as well, because I made these attempts too. We tried to become closer, to become part of that world. But to no avail.

“On the contrary, they undertook, including with the use of international terrorists in the Caucasus, to finish off Russia and to split the Russian Federation. There is no need to prove this to many of you in this room, because you know what took place in the mid-1990s and the early 2000s. They claimed to condemn al-Qaeda and other criminals, yet they considered using them on the territory of Russia as acceptable and provided all kinds of assistance to them, including material, information, political and any other support, notably military support, to encourage them to continue fighting against Russia. We overcame that complicated period in our history thanks to the people of the Caucasus, thanks to the Chechen people, and thanks to the heroism of our military personnel. We have survived those trials, growing stronger in the process.

“It took off from there, as the saying goes. Not to offend anyone, but I will still say that our geopolitical rivals started using every opportunity they had to pursue their agenda. They started brainwashing people across the post-Soviet space, primarily in Ukraine. And they have been quite successful at that and well prepared, since back in the Soviet era they had entire institutions working on these matters.”