MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. The Kiev regime started talks with the West on the provision of air defense systems, warplanes and other military equipment before the launch of Russia’s special military operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.

"I would like to emphasize that Kiev and the West were holding talks about providing Ukraine with air defense systems, warplanes and other military hardware before the start of the special military operation. We also remember that the Kiev regime was trying to get nuclear weapons because public statements had been made on the matter," the Russian head of state pointed out.

Putin noted that Moscow had done everything possible to resolve the Ukrainian crisis peacefully, patiently holding talks on a peaceful way out of the conflict in Ukraine. "However, a completely different scenario was being developed behind our back," he went on to say. "Western rulers’ promises and pledges about a commitment to peace in Donbass turned out to be a sham and a cruel lie, as we now see. They were simply stalling for time by playing coy, turning a blind eye to political killings, the Kiev regime’s reprisals against dissidents and the mistreatment of the faithful. They were increasingly encouraging the Kiev neo-Nazis to carry out terrorist activities in Donbass," the Russian leader said.

The president noted that officers from nationalist battalions had been trained in Western academies. "The US and NATO were rapidly establishing their military bases and secret biolaboratories near our borders, holding drills on the future theater of operations, preparing their subordinate Kiev regime and the enslaved Ukraine for a big war. And now, they have admitted it all," the president stressed. "They [the West] appear to be proud of their perfidy as they call the Minsk Agreements and the Normandy Four platform a diplomatic show and a bluff. It turns out that while Donbass was on fire and blood was being shed, while Russia was truly - I would like to emphasize - truly striving to find a peaceful solution, they were playing with human lives," Putin said.