Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks before officials of the Federal Security Service
Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 26, 2015.
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin voiced confidence that Russia will come out as a winner in its standoff with the West if it firmly stays its ground.
Speaking Thursday before senior officials of the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB agency, Putin said “the situation around our country will change for the better, but not because we will make concessions, bend down or trifle with someone.”
“It will change for the better only if we become stronger,” he said.
The Russian leader accused the West of using “attempts at political isolation, economic pressure, large-scale information war and instruments of special services” to weaken Russia.
He named the deployment of NATO’s forces near Russian borders, the development of the alliance’s U.S.-led missile defense program, and a U.S. program of developing high-precision long-range conventional weapons among the top threats.
“No one has succeeded in scaring our country or pressuring it and no one will,” he added.
Russia’s relations with the West have plunged to the lowest point since the Cold War over the Ukrainian crisis. The United States and the European Union have slapped painful economic sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
