Putin defends Ukraine invasion, chides the West and suspends a nuclear treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries Tuesday of igniting and sustaining the war in Ukraine, dismissing any blame of Moscow almost a year after the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Putin also said that Russia would suspend its participation in a treaty aimed at keeping a lid on nuclear weapons expansion. The so-called New START Treaty was signed by Russia and the U.S. in 2010. It caps the number of long-range nuclear warheads that the two nations can deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons.

Putin said Russia was not fully withdrawing from the treaty yet, adding that Moscow must stand ready to resume nuclear weapons tests if Washington does so.

In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast Russia — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said that Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence.

“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin said, just days before the war’s first anniversary Friday. Ukraine “has become hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”

The speech reiterated a litany of grievances that the Russian leader has frequently offered as justification for the widely condemned war and ignored international demands to pull back from occupied areas in Ukraine.

Observers are expected to scour Putin’s speech for signs of how he sees the conflict, which has become bogged down, and what tone he might set for the year ahead. The Russian leader vowed no military letup in Ukrainian territories he has illegally annexed, apparently rejecting any peace overtures to end a conflict that has reawakened fears of a new Cold War.

Instead, he offered his personalized version of recent history, which discounted arguments by the Ukrainian government that it needed Western help to thwart a Russian military takeover.

“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ [on] Russia,” Putin said in the speech, which was broadcast by all state TV channels. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.”

He added that Russia was prepared to respond because “it will be a matter of our country’s existence.”

While the Russian Constitution mandates that the president deliver the speech annually, Putin did not give one in 2022, amid repeated setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Before Tuesday’s speech, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader would focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine, as Moscow calls it, and Russia’s economy and social issues. Many observers predicted that it would also address Moscow’s falling out with the West — and Putin began with strong words for those countries.

“It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it,” Putin said before an audience of lawmakers, state officials and soldiers who have fought in Ukraine.

Putin accused the West of launching “aggressive information attacks” and taking aim at Russian culture, religion and values because it is aware that “it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.”

He also accused Western nations of waging an attack on Russia’s economy with sanctions — but declared but they hadn’t “achieved anything and will not achieve anything.”

Underscoring the anticipation surrounding Putin’s speech, some state TV channels put out a countdown for the event starting Monday, and Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday morning said the address could be “historic.”

The Kremlin this year has barred media from “unfriendly” countries, the list of which includes the U.S., Britain European Union member states. Peskov said journalists from those nations would be able to cover the speech by watching the broadcast.

Peskov told reporters that the speech’s delay had to do with Putin’s “work schedule,” but Russian media reports linked it to the multiple setbacks Russian forces have suffered in Ukraine.

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Last year the Kremlin has also canceled two other big annual events — Putin’s press conference and a highly scripted phone-in marathon where people ask the president questions.

Analysts expected Putin’s speech would be tough in the wake of President Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday. Biden plans to give his own speech later Tuesday in Poland, where he’s expected to highlight allied commitment to Ukraine over the last year.

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said that Biden’s address would not be “some kind of head-to-head” with Putin’s.

“This is not a rhetorical contest with anyone else,” said.