MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. The West’s constant pressure on Russia can only be explained by the fact that Western countries think that Russia is too big even following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual press conference on Thursday.
"Back in 1918, one of the aides of Woodrow Wilson, the US President, said that the entire world would rest easier if instead of the currently enormous Russia there was a state in Siberia and another four countries in the European part," Putin reiterated. The president noted that in 1991, when the USSR disintegrated, the country split into separate parts. "Yet there is an impression that this is not enough for our partners. In their opinion, Russia is too big today. Because the European countries themselves turned into smaller states. Not great empires but small countries, 60-80 mln people. Yet even after the fall of the USSR where we have only 146 mln left it is still too much. It seems to me, such constant pressure can only be explained by this," Putin said.
The Russian leader stressed that in the early 1990s the USSR did everything in order to build normal relations with the West. According to him, the West should have treated Russia as a potential ally after the collapse of the Soviet Union and facilitated its strengthening instead of attempting to induce "a further disintegration."
"The representatives of corresponding American services were sitting at our military-cycle facilities, were working there, at the locations of Russia’s nuclear weapons complex, every day, they lived there," Putin continued. "Numerous advisors worked at the Russian government, including CIA staff members. What else did you need? Why there was a need to support terrorists in the Northern Caucasus and use manifestly terrorist organizations for attempts to disintegrate the Russian Federation? Yet this was done, and I, as a former FSB director, know this for sure. We worked with double agents there, they reported to us which goals were set for them by the Western intelligence. Why was it necessary to do this?"
The president reiterated that this was followed by NATO’s eastward expansion that has already come in five waves. "We were saying: 'Don’t do this.’ You promised us not to do this. And we are told: ‘And where is it written on paper? Nowhere? That’s it then, go to hell. We don’t care about your concerns.’ And this [has been going on] for years. Every time we snapped, tried to prevent something, expressed concerns. No, [we were told] ‘Go away with your concerns. We will do what we deem necessary,’" he added.
"So, where don’t they (the Western countries - TASS) understand us? I don’t know. You would ask what’s not clear here," Putin told a Sky News journalist who asked him a question on the matter. "I think everything is clear here. We want to ensure our security," the president concluded.