Putin declared his naivety in the “zero” years – Kommersant

President Vladimir Putin said that he previously had a naive idea that the negative reaction of Western politicians to Russia’s actions was associated with the habit of entering into confrontation with the USSR. Now the president is convinced that Western politicians actually wanted to divide Russia.

“There was definitely naivety,” the president said in interview VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin, speaking about his past in the “zero.” Vladimir Putin noted that this naivety was characteristic of him, despite the fact that he worked for 20 years in the security agencies.

“I had a naive idea that the whole world understands what happened to Russia, that it has become a different country, that there is no longer any ideological confrontation, which means there is no basis for confrontation. And if something negative is happening in the policies of Western countries towards Russia… In particular, support for separatism and terrorism on Russian territory was obvious, I, as the director of the FSB, saw this,” said Vladimir Putin.

“But I naively believed that this was the inertia of thinking and action. They got used to fighting the Soviet Union and continue… It was a naive idea,” the president explained. According to him, he later became convinced that in fact, after the collapse of the USSR, Western politicians wanted to “completely collapse Russia.” In his opinion, no one needs such a large country with a large population.

December 14 during the “Results of the Year” with Vladimir Putin asked, which he sees as among the main goals for Russia as he runs for a fifth term. He stated that he considers his main task to be strengthening the country’s sovereignty. In his opinion, Russia cannot exist without sovereignty. The presidential elections will take place from March 15 to 17.

Read more about the “Results of the Year” in the material “Live and work like Lermontov”.