Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the disparity in understanding between the West and Russia, shedding light on what he perceives as a lack of acknowledgment of Russia's significance in the global arena. Addressing the Worldwide Russian People's Assembly through a video link, Putin remarked on the Western perspective towards Russia's diverse and expansive cultural heritage.
"In essence, the Western powers don't comprehend the importance of a vast and diverse nation like Russia," President Putin conveyed, pointing out the incongruity of Russia's rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and ethnicities with what he deemed the Western approach characterized by racism and colonial ideologies.
"The Western framework, shaped by the ideals of racists and colonizers, fails to accommodate our diversity and unity," Putin asserted. He highlighted the recurrent narrative propagated by some in the West that portrays Russia as a conglomerate of nations held captive, insinuating that the Russians themselves are an enslaved population. "This rhetoric of Russia as a 'prison of nations' and its people as 'slaves' has persisted across centuries, along with the narrative of Russia needing decolonization," the President stated, contesting the veracity of these claims.
Elucidating further on his views, Putin underlined what he perceived as the underlying agenda behind such sentiments. "What is their true intention? It's to disintegrate and exploit Russia. If they cannot achieve this through coercion, then they resort to sowing discord," Putin expressed, attributing foreign interference and provocations aimed at inciting interethnic or interreligious conflicts as aggressive acts against Russia, representing an attempt to subvert the nation by leveraging terrorism and extremism.
Moreover, Putin accused Western elites of endorsing Russophobia, racism, and neo-Nazism as part of their official ideology. "Today, the ruling elites in the West have adopted Russophobia, racism, and neo-Nazism as their institutionalized ideologies," Putin asserted, contending that these policies were not only directed against Russians but against the myriad of diverse ethnic groups comprising the Russian population.
"These policies do not discriminate; they target not only Russians but Tatars, Chechens, Avars, Tuvinians, Bashkirs, Buryats, Yakuts, Ossetians, Jews, Ingush, Mari, Altaians, and numerous others," Putin proclaimed, emphasizing the all-encompassing impact of these ideologies on the entire spectrum of Russia's diverse populace.
Putin's comments sought to reframe the Western narrative concerning Russia's size, diversity, and cultural richness, presenting it as a misunderstood entity subjected to what he described as a misguided perception rooted in prejudice and misinterpretation.
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