West has turned Ukraine into ‘bargaining chip’ to achieve its geopolitical ambitions: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Ukraine has turned into a "bargaining chip" that the West is using to achieve its geopolitical ambitions.

"The main reason for today's tragic situation in Ukraine is the deliberate anti-Russia policy pursued by the U.S.-led collective West. For decades, they have sought total control over Ukraine … Ukraine virtually turned into a bargaining chip that the West used to achieve its geopolitical ambitions," Putin said in an interview with Mongolia's Onoodor newspaper ahead of an official visit to Mongolia on Tuesday, the text of which was shared by the Kremlin.

Arguing that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has historical roots, Putin claimed the U.S. and its allies "organized" the Maidan protests in 2014 that led to the ouster of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, defining it as a "coup." Yanukovych was widely perceived as pro-Russian.

Putin further argued that "millions of civilians" in the Donbas region have had to "survive genocide, shelling and blockade on the part of the Kyiv regime."

"The hatred for everything Russian has become Ukraine's official ideology," he also claimed.

"What we see today is the natural outcome of the destructive strategy of the West towards Ukraine. On top of that, Western elites continue to lend large‑scale political, financial and military support to the current regime, regarding it as a weapon against Russia," Putin went on to say.

He added that Moscow is aware of this and will continue to try and achieve all the objectives of its "special military operation" in order to ensure the security of Russia and its citizens.