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Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to the Federal Assembly

Putin says Russia was open to security talks with West, met with NATO’s expansion instead

Not a single country in the world has so many military bases abroad as the US, the President noted

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russia was ready to hold a dialogue on security with the West, but received a hypocritical reaction and was met with NATO’s expansion in response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.

"We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West. We said and insisted that both Europe and the entire world need an indivisible security system equal for all states. For many years, we have been offering our partners to jointly discuss this idea and work on its implementation," Putin said.

"In response, we received an unclear or hypocritical reaction," the Russian leader stressed. "But there were also specific actions - NATO’s expansion towards our borders and the creation of new missile shield sites in Europe and Asia," the president said.

The Russian leader noted that the West has decided to hide behind "an umbrella." According to him, not a single country in the world has so many military bases abroad as the US. "I want to stress this: hundreds of bases around the whole world, the entire planet has been dotted, one only needs to look at a map," he said.

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