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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, Russia, February 21, 2023. /CFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to continue with Russia's year-long conflict in Ukraine and accused the U.S.-led NATO alliance of fanning the flames of the conflict in the mistaken belief that it could defeat Russia.
Putin told Russia's political and military elite that Russia would "carefully and consistently resolve the tasks facing us" during his annual address to the Federal Assembly, also known as the State of the Nation address, in Moscow.
The president said Russia had done everything it could to avoid the conflict but that Western-backed Ukraine had been planning to attack Crimea, which was incorporated into Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum recognized by Moscow.
The West, Putin said, had let the genie out of the bottle in a host of regions across the world by sowing chaos and conflict.
"The people of Ukraine themselves have become hostages of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, who have actually occupied this country in a political, military and economic sense," the president said.
Defeating Russia, he said, was impossible.
February 24 will mark one year since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed.
(With input from Reuters)
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