Putin: America and its "followers" have turned the people of Ukraine into fuel to confront Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of turning the Ukrainian people into what he described as "fuel" to confront Russia, warning of the increasing potential for conflict in the world.

And Putin added, during a video speech on the occasion of his welcome to the participants in the meeting of defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Shanghai in Moscow, that the West turned Ukraine into what he called a "colony" and then encouraged "terrorism" in Donbass, he said.

He added that the West seeks to maintain its hegemony by any means, saying that it is deliberately doubling chaos and exacerbating the international situation.

"It is necessary to work together on a more flexible system of security and cooperation that is suitable for current challenges," the Russian president added.

Putin stated that the United States and what he described as its "followers" are betting on the power factor, saying that they "destroyed the structure of strategic stability and are pushing hard towards the geography of NATO's expansion."

And he added that the peacekeeping units of the CIS countries and the Shanghai Organization should contribute more actively to the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations.

The relationship between Moscow and the West has been strained to a large extent since Russia launched military operations in neighboring Ukraine on February 24.

Putin accuses the West of fueling and prolonging the conflict, because of the "generous" military aid that has been provided to Ukraine since the start of the war.

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