Putin: In Ukraine, Russia tries to stop the war that goes on for nine years

Russia is going through hard times, President Putin said at the ceremony of presenting state awards, TASS reports.

"Yes, Russia is going through difficult times now, but, like we said today, there have never been easy times. Still, today is a special moment of our powerful consolidation," he said.

According to him, the society gets consolidated to strengthen the foundations of spirituality and create conditions for the development of economy. It is now important to educate young people in order to ensure the future of Russia, the president believes.

With the help of the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia is trying to stop the war "against our people", which, due to "historical injustice", found themselves outside the "historical Russian state", Putin said at the ceremony.

"For nine years, our enemy, the enemy of our people, has been waging war against those people. We are often told and we often hear that Russia started some kind of war. No! Russia, with the help of the special military operation, is trying to stop this war that is being waged against us,” the president said.

Last week, the president described Russia's opponents as stupid people with a neo-colonial mindset. According to Putin, they suggest that Russia's cultural and national diversity is part of the nation's weakness.

"They don't understand that it is this diversity that makes us stronger. They should not be counting on the effect that they are striving to achieve," Putin said.

Putin has repeatedly accused the West of neo-colonial ideas for the purpose of building the unipolar world. According to him, the West is incapable of ruling mankind single-handedly, but is desperately trying to do it, and most of the peoples of the world no longer want to put up with it.

Russia stands for the creation of a system of equal and indivisible security based on principles of international law, Putin also noted.