A year after the invasion of Ukraine, Putin blamed NATO and said the war would continue

Vladimir Putin gave a long-awaited state speech on Tuesday in which promised to continue the war in Ukraineof which this Friday turns a year old, and he accused NATO of fomenting the conflict in the belief that it could defeat Moscow in a world conflict.

"A year ago, a decision was made to hold a meeting to protect the people of our historic countries, to ensure the security of our country and eliminate the threat of Kiev's neo-Nazi regime", said the Russian president.

And I add: "We will solve the goals step by step, carefully and systematically that we have before us."

Putin asserted that he did "everything he could to resolve the Ukrainian crisis peacefully, but a completely different scenario was being prepared behind his back." And he emphasized that he had "no doubt" that a year ago "everything was ready" for the Ukrainian offensive in Crimea, region annexed by Russia in 2014.

"They want to destroy Russia"

Putin also accused Western countries of escalating the conflict in Ukraine and of wanting to "finish off" Russia.

"The responsibility for fueling the Ukrainian conflict, about its escalation, about the number of victims (...) falls entirely on the Western elites", he assured. And continued: "They do not hide their goal: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is, finish us off once and for all".

The Russian president said Russia would never give in to Western attempts to divide its society, adding that most Russians supported the war. Putin said this in his message The West would use terrorists, Nazis "and even the devil" to fight against Russia.

Russia suspends the latest nuclear disarmament agreement with the US.

Putin announced suspension your country's compliance with START III, the last nuclear disarmament treaty still in force between Russia and the US. He also assured that Russia will be forced to remove the threat from its borders if Ukraine receives more long-range weapons from the West.

In front of the country's political elite and the army that fought in Ukraine, he also thanked "the entire Russian people for their courage and determination." Referring to the international sanctions affecting Russia, Putin assessed that the Westerners "have not achieved anything and will not achieve anything"because the Russian economy held up better than experts expected.

"They do not hide their goal: to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is, to finish us off once and for all," Putin said about NATO.

"We guaranteed the stability of the economic situation, protected the citizens," he said, adding that the West failed to "destabilize" Russian society.

And closed: "The country is going through a difficult moment, a historical moment, moment of cardinal and irreversible changes in the whole world. It is about the most important historical events that determine the future of our country and our people, when each of us has a great responsibility".