Putin accuses West of seeking to destroy and divide Russia

Putin said this on one of Russia's propaganda TV channels.

According to him, if the West succeeds in destroying the Russian Federation, the Russian people will not be able to survive as a single entity and will disintegrate into separate regional identities that will be formed in the wreckage of Russia.

“If we follow this path, I think that the fate of many peoples of Russia, and above all, of course, the Russian people, can change dramatically, just dramatically. I don't even know whether such an ethnic group as the Russian people will be able to survive in the form in which it exists today. Well, there will be some Muscovites, Ural people, and so on. This was all in the plans, these plans are set out on paper,” Putin said.

He expressed his belief that the West's goal is to divide Russia into separate parts.

“They have one goal - to divide the former Soviet Union and its main part, the Russian Federation. And then, perhaps, they will accept us into the so-called family of civilized nations, but only separately, each part separately. Why? In order to control these parts and bring them under their control,” Putin said.

• On February 21, Putin threatened to expand the war if the West provided Ukraine with long-range weapons. In addition, the Russian dictator said that Russia was suspending its participation in New START. Vladimir Putin also ordered the Russian military to prepare for nuclear weapons tests.