△ Russian President Putin (Photo)
In an episode of “Moscow·Kremlin·Putin” broadcast on Channel 13 in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed on the 13th local time that the root cause of Russia’s conflict with the West lies in geopolitics, not as previously thought and evidently as Soviet Russia.
Putin stated, “The West has come to a consensus—since the Soviet Union no longer exists, why should they adhere to rules for a country that lacks the potential strength of the Soviet Union? Now they cut their interests at will… everything is being refused, refused, and refused again. Clearly, if we fail to declare our future capabilities as independent sovereign nations, no one will take us seriously.”
Putin pointed out that in the early 2000s, he and many others believed that the crux of the relationship between the Soviet Union and what was then considered the Western world lay in ideological differences. However, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, the West’s contemptuous attitude towards Russia’s national strategic interests remained unchanged, “not only contempt but also a blatant desire for geopolitical advantages.” (CCTV Hao Wei)