{{quotebox-float|"US politicians, political scientists and journalists write and say that a veritable “empire of lies” has been created inside the United States in recent years. It is hard to disagree with this – it is really so. But one should not be modest about it: the United States is still a great country and a system-forming power. All its satellites not only humbly and obediently say 'yes' to, and parrot it at the slightest pretext, but also imitate its behavior and enthusiastically accept the rules it is offering them. Therefore, one can say with good reason and confidence that the whole so-called [[Western bloc]] formed by the United States in its own image and likeness is, in its entirety, the very same “empire of lies.”
{{quotebox-float|"US politicians, political scientists and journalists write and say that a veritable “empire of lies” has been created inside the United States in recent years. It is hard to disagree with this – it is really so. But one should not be modest about it: the United States is still a great country and a system-forming power. All its satellites not only humbly and obediently say 'yes' to, and parrot it at the slightest pretext, but also imitate its behavior and enthusiastically accept the rules it is offering them. Therefore, one can say with good reason and confidence that the whole so-called [[Western bloc]] formed by the United States in its own image and likeness is, in its entirety, the very same “empire of lies.”
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As for our country, after the disintegration of the USSR, given the entire unprecedented [[glasnost|openness]] of the new, modern Russia, its readiness to work honestly with the United States and other Western partners, and its practically unilateral disarmament, they immediately tried to put the final squeeze on us, finish us off, and utterly destroy us. This is how it was in the 1990s and the early 2000s, when the so-called collective West was actively supporting separatism and gangs of [[mercenaries]] in southern Russia. What victims, what losses we had to sustain, and [[Russia#Chechen wars|what trials we had to go through]] at that time before we broke the back of international terrorism in the [[Caucasus]]! We remember this and will never forget.<ref>Putin is speaking of such events as the [[Beslan massacre]]</ref>
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As for our country, after the disintegration of the USSR, given the entire unprecedented [[glasnost|openness]] of the new, modern Russia, its readiness to work honestly with the United States and other Western partners, and its practically [[unilateral]] disarmament, they immediately tried to put the final squeeze on us, finish us off, and utterly destroy us. This is how it was in the 1990s and the early 2000s, when the so-called collective West was actively supporting separatism and gangs of [[mercenaries]] in southern Russia. What victims, what losses we had to sustain, and [[Russia#Chechen wars|what trials we had to go through]] at that time before we broke the back of international terrorism in the [[Caucasus]]! We remember this and will never forget.<ref>Putin is speaking of such events as the [[Beslan massacre]]</ref>
Properly speaking, the attempts to use us in their own interests never ceased until quite recently: they sought to destroy our [[traditional values]] and force on us their [[Liberalism|false values]] that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to [[human nature]]. This is not going to happen. No one has ever succeeded in doing this, nor will they succeed now."<ref name="bloomberg.com">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/full-transcript-vladimir-putin-s-televised-address-to-russia-on-ukraine-feb-24</ref>}}
Properly speaking, the attempts to use us in their own interests never ceased until quite recently: they sought to destroy our [[traditional values]] and force on us their [[Liberalism|false values]] that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to [[human nature]]. This is not going to happen. No one has ever succeeded in doing this, nor will they succeed now."<ref name="bloomberg.com">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/full-transcript-vladimir-putin-s-televised-address-to-russia-on-ukraine-feb-24</ref>}}