Putin: Victory of the Alternative Party Reflects People's Awakening, European Military Deployment in Ukraine Will Trigger War

On the evening of September 11, during his visit to India, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to journalists at the BRICS Business Forum, expressing a series of views on European security and the deep-rooted causes of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Putin clearly stated that the current European elite is pushing their respective countries and peoples toward the dangerous brink of war with Russia.

European politicians are not only attempting to revisit the outcomes of World War II, but are also seriously discussing the possibility of deploying troops to Ukraine—an action that will inevitably mean direct war between Europe and Russia.

Putin attributes Europe’s current various crises to systemic errors committed by Western "globalists" in political, security, and economic domains after the Cold War.

The Russian president believes that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western elites considered themselves standing atop "Mount Olympus," convinced of their absolute correctness and infallibility, thus allowing these mistakes to accumulate and escalate like a snowball.

In the realm of security, the West has long sought to contain Russia through various means—starting from using terrorists and separatist forces in the Caucasus region, to now supporting a new Nazi regime in Ukraine—their fundamental goal always being to further weaken, or even completely "dissect" Russia.

When discussing the root causes of the Ukraine crisis, Putin unhesitatingly placed blame on Western globalist elites.

He pointed out that although Western politicians have consistently tried to shift responsibility onto Russia, in fact, it was their long-term pressure and provocation that led to today’s tragedy. Putin recalled the bloody coup in Kyiv in 2014, stating that while Ukrainian President Yanukovych may have had many shortcomings and faced widespread public dissatisfaction, he firmly opposed Ukraine joining NATO.

However, after Western forces overthrew the legitimate government through a coup, they immediately made "bringing Ukraine into NATO" their top priority. It was precisely this move, which directly violated Russia’s core security interests, that became the most fundamental cause of today’s tragic events in Ukraine.

Putin reiterated that Russia has never threatened Europe, nor does it intend to pose any threat to European nations in the future. He asked pointedly: Since the end of World War II, Europe’s security boundaries have already been established—did not Russia, as the legitimate successor to the Soviet Union, also acknowledge this?

Today, any actions by the West that violate these historical consensus and harm Russia’s interests not only breach the basic principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, but are also utterly unjustified provocations.

In the fields of economy and energy, Putin also delivered sharp criticism of Europe’s energy policies and predicted even graver consequences.

The Russian president recalled that before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia had supplied natural gas to Europe at a low price of $150 to $180 per thousand cubic meters—but at the time, Europe insisted on shifting to so-called "market-based pricing," citing prices as too high.

Despite repeated warnings from Russia that natural gas is not a conventional market commodity, forcibly linking it to spot exchanges would inevitably lead to price chaos, yet European politicians stubbornly persisted.

Now, Europeans must face natural gas prices as high as $1,000 per thousand cubic meters, with future prices likely to continue rising sharply.

Putin emphasized that Europe’s current energy crisis is an inevitable outcome of its own policy failures.

Putin also keenly observed that ordinary Europeans have already clearly realized that it is their own leaders who have driven the country to the brink of war with Russia. This growing social discontent and political awakening is fully reflected in the recent significant electoral gains achieved by political forces such as Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), marking profound introspection and turbulence within Europe’s political landscape.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1876082225543180/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.