SAMARKAND, September 16. /TASS/. The West has for decades nurtured the idea of achieving the collapse of the Soviet Union and historical Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while answering media questions following a visit to Samarkand on Friday.
"For many decades the Western countries systematically nurtured the idea of bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union, of historical Russia and of Russia as such as its core," Putin said.
The Russian leader recalled speculations by some political figures in Great Britain after the First World War on this score, and also drew attention to the idea of US political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski, who even theoretically "dismembered" the entire territory of Russia into several parts, but then changed his mind, "believing that it will be better to preserve Russia as China’s antagonist and to use it as a tool in the struggle against China."
"They won't live to see this happen! May they handle their own problems the way they deem right," he stated.
At the same time, Putin remarked that the Western way of handling problems "backfires."
"Theirs are unacceptable tools," he concluded.