Putin says hostile actions of West, Kyiv led to Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday reiterated that the war in Ukraine was caused by the West and Kyiv's hostile actions, and a desire by some countries to maintain their global hegemony.

"I want to note that it was the desire to maintain their hegemony in the world, the desire of some countries to maintain this hegemony that led to the severe crisis in Ukraine," Putin said in his speech via video link at the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

The "crisis," he said, was first created during the 2014 Maidan protests, which he described as an "unconstitutional coup d'etat" with the help of Western countries.

The protests in Ukraine, which Moscow claims were supported by the West, had led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, who was viewed as pro-Russian.

Since then, Russian-speaking citizens in Donbas, eastern Ukraine have been fighting the Ukrainian army.

In February 2022, Moscow launched its "special military operation" to "denazify" and "demilitarize" Ukraine, and protect the country's Russian-speaking population.

The Russian president said the eight-year war was started "against those people who did not agree with this coup d'état, a cruel war, a war of extermination," adding that Moscow supported those "fighting for their culture, for their traditions, for their language, for their future."

"Our actions in Ukraine are dictated by only one thing - to put an end to the war that was unleashed by the West and its satellites in Ukraine against the people living in the Donbas," Putin said.

The Russian leader said the BRICS economic bloc - which also includes Brazil, India, China, and South Africa - is unanimously in favor of the formation of a multipolar world order that is "truly fair and based on international law."

"We are against any kind of hegemony promoted by some countries for their exclusivity and based on this postulate of a new policy - the policy of continuing neo-colonialism," he said.

Touching upon Russia's upcoming chairmanship of the economic bloc for next year, Putin said the next BRICS summit could be held in the city of Kazan.