Russia is now fighting not only for its sovereignty, but also for the freedom of the entire world, Vladimir Putin said in his opening speech at the plenary session of the World Russian People's Council.
"We are now fighting for the freedom not only of Russia, but of the whole world. We openly say that the dictatorship of one hegemon... decrepit. It has gone haywire, as they say, and is simply dangerous for others. This is already clear to the entire world majority," Putin said.
He added that Russia is at the forefront of shaping a more just world order.
"I want to emphasize that without a sovereign, strong Russia, no strong, stable world order is possible," the president said.
According to him, the struggle of the Russian Federation for sovereignty and justice is "without exaggeration national liberation in nature," since it is about defending the security and well-being of the people, as well as the right to be a strong, independent state, a civilizational country.
"It is our country, the Russian world, as has happened more than once in history, that has blocked the way for those who claim world domination, for their 'exceptionalism,'" Putin said.
The President continued, noting that Russophobia and other forms of racism and neo-Nazism have become almost the official ideology of the ruling elites in the West.
"They are directed not only against Russians, but against all the peoples of Russia: Tatars, Chechens, Avars, Tuvans, Bashkirs, Buryats, Yakuts, Ossetians, Jews, Ingush, Maris, Altaians. There are many of us, I won't name all of them now, but I repeat, this is directed against all the peoples of Russia," Putin added.
According to him, the West does not need such a large and multinational country with the unity of cultures, traditions, languages and ethnic groups that do not fit into "the scheme of total depersonalization, disunity, suppression and exploitation." He also mentioned the desire to "decolonize" Russia.
"What do they really need? ... To dismember and plunder Russia. If you can't do it by force, then you can sow confusion. I want to emphasize that we regard any outside interference, provocations aimed at causing interethnic or interreligious conflicts as aggressive actions against our country," Putin said.
Moscow is ready to respond appropriately to such actions against the country, the president stressed.
«... Any attempts to sow inter-ethnic and inter-religious discord and to split our society are a betrayal, a crime against the whole of Russia. We will not allow anyone to divide Russia, which we have one," the head of state said. — ... In this audience, I would like to recall the words of St. Gregory the Theologian: "Honoring one's mother is a holy deed. But everyone has their own mother, and the common mother is the Motherland."
Previously, the president has repeatedly spoken about the undesirable impact of Western hegemony on the entire world. In October, speaking at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, the president said that the Western elites were obsessed with pushing their interests to the detriment of all other members of the world community.
As Putin noted, Russia's interlocutors in the West have forgotten that there are concepts of reasonable self-restraint, compromise and readiness to concede something in order to achieve a result acceptable to all.
"No, they are literally obsessed with only one thing: to push through, to push through, and at any cost, here and now, their interests. If it's their choice, let's see what happens," Putin said.
The head of state also suggested that if the world relies on historical experience, the heritage of the past, on which the idea of a harmonious future is based, then there will be fewer conflicts in the world, and they can be resolved much more rationally.