“Will regret their actions like this”: Putin threatens western states


“Will so regret their deeds”
Putin threatens western states

In view of the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, the world is listening intently to the speech of Russian President Putin: He warns the West against crossing a “red line” – and accuses foreign countries of attempted state assassinations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of attempting to overthrow the territory of the former Soviet Union and warned against crossing a “red line”. “Organizers of any provocations that threaten the core interests of our security will regret their actions in a way that they have not regretted for a long time,” Putin said in his speech to the nation in Moscow.

“We always act with restraint and in a modest way,” said Putin, referring to the conflicts with the West. However, these good intentions should not be misunderstood as “weaknesses”. “I hope that it does not occur to anyone to cross the so-called red line towards Russia. Where it runs, we will decide for ourselves in each specific case,” he said in front of hundreds of representatives from politics, business, culture and religion.

In Belarus “all borders have already been crossed”

The Kremlin chief sharply criticized alleged plans to assassinate Belarus’ ruler, Alexander Lukashenko. The Russian domestic secret service FSB and the KGB in Belarus made the alleged coup plans public over the weekend and announced that two suspects had been arrested, including a man with a US passport. There could be different views on Lukashenko’s politics. “But the practice of organizing state overturns, the plans for political murders, including those of the highest officials – that goes too far. All borders have already been exceeded,” said Putin, criticizing the West’s “silence” on the “attempted coup” .

He recalled that in Ukraine in 2014, then-President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown and almost “killed”. Yanukovych escaped to Russia. The Russian leadership repeatedly accuses the West of instigating revolutions in the territory of the former Soviet Union – with the aim of overthrowing unpopular governments.

In Russia, for example, the movement surrounding the Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, who is imprisoned in the prison camp, is faced with accusations of wanting to overthrow Putin’s power apparatus with Western help. This Monday, a court is due to decide whether Nawalny’s organizations are classified as extremist. Commentators have no doubt that this will happen. This is supposed to paralyze the work of the opposition before the parliamentary elections in the autumn.

Putin, who has been in office since 2000, only recently signed two further terms in office. In a controversial referendum last summer, the majority of voters approved the constitutional amendment, which allows the 68-year-old two more six-year terms after the end of his current mandate in 2024.

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