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Vladimir Putin's ‘make Russia great again’ pitch? ‘Can’t give away sovereignty'
Vladimir Putin: The elections come just over two years since Moscow launched Ukraine offensive prompting huge rounds of Western sanctions on Russia.
Russian president Vladimir Putin promised to make Russia a "sovereign, self-sufficient" power in the face of the West in his first campaign speech. The Russian leader has been in power since 2000 and will stand for president in March with no real opposition expected. This means that Vladimir Putin would be able to prolong his rule until at least 2030. The elections come just over two years since Moscow launched Ukraine offensive prompting huge rounds of Western sanctions on Russia.
"We must remember and never forget and tell our children: Russia will be either a sovereign, self-sufficient state, or it will not be there at all," Vladimir Putin said.
I will make “sovereignty” one of the key aims of his fifth term in the Kremlin, he said, adding, “We will only make decisions ourselves without foreign tips from abroad. Russia cannot -- like some countries -- give away its sovereignty for some sausage and become someone's satellite.”
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Accusing the West of wanting to "sow internal troubles" in Russia, the Russian leader said, “But such tactics did not work.”
The longtime Kremlin leader said "we still have a lot to do for the interests of Russia" and that the country faced "historic tasks."
Earlier, Vladimir Putin also clarified that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries, describing claims by US president Joe Biden that Moscow poses a threat to members of the defense alliance as “complete nonsense”.
Joe Biden had said that “if Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there. If he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO ally.
Russia has “no reason or interest, either geopolitical, economic or military, to fight with NATO countries,” Vladimir Putin said, asserting, “We have no territorial claims against each other, no desire to spoil relations with them. We are interested to develop relations with them.”
