Putin accuses previous Russian leaders of ‘destroying the country’

Moscow sought to integrate with the West but the latter worked towards Russia’s destruction, the president has said

Russia will never sacrifice its national interests in a bid to improve relations with any other nation or a group of states, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday. A previous generation of Russian leaders was ready to give up everything to join the so-called “civilized world” led by Washington and its allies, he stated, adding that nonetheless they had achieved nothing because the West never intended to accept Russia as an equal.

“In our modern history, we’ve gone through a period when the previous generation of politicians… went so far as to destroy their own country in hope that Russia will become a part of the so-called ‘civilized world’,” Putin said an interview published by Russia 1 TV journalist Pavel Zarubin on Telegram.

The president was apparently referring to the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union when Russia was plunged into a deep crisis as its new government sought to rapidly shift from the Soviet command economy to capitalism. The government and the central bank also had to devalue the ruble and default on its debt in 1998, in what is widely considered the worst economic crisis in the nation’s modern history.

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That period was also marked by Moscow’s aspirations to become a part of the West. The first foreign minister of modern Russia, Andrey Kozyrev, particularly believed that Moscow would no longer see NATO as a threat and pursue integration with Western nations instead. He was eventually replaced with Evgeny Primakov – a man known as the proponent of a multi-faceted approach towards Russia’s foreign policy – amid a NATO expansion further to the east.

According to Putin, the US and its allies never planned to accept Russia as an equal partner. Instead, they sought its total destruction. “As soon as Russia’s capacities were reduced and it became weaker, [the West attempted to] deal the finishing blow instead of making it an equal partner and a member of this ‘civilized world’,” the president said.

Moscow is still ready to work with the West despite this past, Putin stated, calling the Western nations “adversaries” but also “potential partners.” If Russia sees an opportunity to build up relations with any other nation, it will seize it, the president said, adding, however, that it will never do this at the expense of its own national interests.

In another part of the interview, he still warned that Russia will “always respond to any challenge” coming from the West, expressing his hope that Washington and its allies would understand at some point that “what is needed is to seek compromises.”