Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked the West again in a scathing speech ahead of the Russian presidential election campaign, Sky News reports.

He accused the United States and other Western countries of trying to “dismember and rob” Russia and claimed that his military was fighting “for the freedom not only of Russia, but of the whole world.”

Putin – Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin – is expected to announce he will run again in March’s presidential election.

“We protect the security and well-being of our people, the highest, historical right to be Russia — a great state, an independent, civilized country,” Vladimir Putin told participants of a meeting organized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

He also criticized what he believed to be “Russophobia” in the West and accused these Western countries of seeking to “sow enmity”.

The head of the Kremlin has repeatedly insisted that Moscow is not to blame for the conflict, and accused the West of actually “provoking” the war in Ukraine, Sky News notes.

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