Putin Blasts US 'Hegemony,' Predicts End to 'Unipolar' World

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses participants of the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2022. (EPA/Kremlin/ Sputnik)
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses participants of the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2022. (EPA/Kremlin/ Sputnik)
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Putin Blasts US 'Hegemony,' Predicts End to 'Unipolar' World

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses participants of the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2022. (EPA/Kremlin/ Sputnik)
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses participants of the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2022. (EPA/Kremlin/ Sputnik)

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to encourage extended hostilities in Ukraine as part of what he described Tuesday as Washington's alleged efforts to maintain its global hegemony.

Addressing a security conference attended by military officials from Africa, Asia and Latin America, Putin reaffirmed his long-held claim that he sent troops into Ukraine in response to Washington turning the country into an “anti-Russia” bulwark.

“They need conflicts to retain their hegemony,” Putin charged. “That’s why they have turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder. The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to drag the conflict out, and it acts in exactly the same way trying to fuel conflicts in Asia, Africa and Latin America.”

The speech represented the latest attempt by the Russian leader to rally support amid bruising Western sanctions that targeted the Russian economy and finance along with its government structures, top officials and businesses for Moscow’s action in Ukraine.

Putin also drew parallels between the US backing Ukraine and a recent visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, charging that both were part of an alleged American attempt to foment global instability.

“The American adventure in Taiwan wasn't just a trip by an irresponsible politician. It was part of a deliberate and conscious US strategy intended to destabilize the situation and create chaos in the region and the entire world, a blatant demonstration of disrespect for another country' sovereignty and its own international obligations,” Putin said.

The Russian leader claimed that “Western globalist elites" were trying “to shift the blame for their own failures to Russia and China,” adding that “no matter how hard the beneficiaries of the current globalist model try to cling to it, it's doomed.”

“The era of the unipolar world order is nearing its end,” he added.

Speaking at the same conference, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu charged that along with supplies of weapons to Ukraine, Western allies also have provided detailed intelligence information and deployed instructors to help the Ukrainian military operate the weapons systems.

“Western intelligence agencies not only have provided target coordinates for launching strikes, but Western specialists also have overseen the input of those data into weapons systems,” Shoigu said.

He dismissed allegations that Russia could potentially use nuclear or chemical weapons in the conflict as an “absolute lie.”

“From the military viewpoint, there is no need for using nuclear weapons in Ukraine to achieve the stated goals,” Shoigu said. “The main mission of the Russian nuclear forces is providing a deterrent against a nuclear attack.”

Shoigu added that the claims of a possible chemical attack by Russia were equally “absurd,” saying that Moscow fully liquidated its chemical weapons stockpiles in compliance with an international treaty banning chemical weapons.



Russia Captures UK National Fighting Alongside Ukraine in the Kursk Region

Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
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Russia Captures UK National Fighting Alongside Ukraine in the Kursk Region

Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)

The Russian military captured a British national fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in Russia's partially occupied Kursk region, state news agency Tass reported Monday, citing unidentified sources in the law enforcement.
The man was identified by Tass and other media as James Scott Rhys Anderson. Tass quoted him as saying that he had served as a signalman in the British army for four years and then joined the International Legion of Ukraine, formed early on in Russia's nearly 3-year-old war against its neighbor.
In Ukraine, Anderson reportedly served as an instructor for Ukrainian troops and was deployed to the Kursk region against his will. Tass published a video of the man saying in English that he doesn’t want to be “here.”
The report couldn’t be independently verified, but if confirmed it could be the first publicly known case of a Western national captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.
The UK Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.