MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russia cannot be defeated on the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.

"They (the elites of the West - TASS) cannot but realize that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield," the Russian leader said.

As the president pointed out, the West was not trying to conceal its aim of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.

"The elites of the West do not hide their aim to make Russia, as they say outright, suffer, a ‘strategic defeat.’ What does this mean? What is it for us? It means that they wish do away with us once and for all. In other words, to send a local conflict into the phase of a global confrontation," Putin stressed.

"This is precisely how we understand it all, and we will react accordingly. In this case the existence of our country is on the agenda," he added.