‘I believed, in my naivety’ – Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated in an interview that in the early 2000s, he had a naïve perception that the entire world understood that Russia had changed and therefore there were no reasons for ideological confrontation and conflict.

“There was naivety. However, you know, I will tell you quite frankly, even looking back, despite the fact that I worked almost 20 years in the security bodies of the Soviet Union and foreign intelligence, despite the fact that I was later the Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, the FSB Director, the Secretary of the Security Council, and even the Prime Minister, I had a naïve perception that the whole world, and first of all, the so-called civilized world, understood what had happened to Russia, that it had become a completely different country, that there was no ideological confrontation anymore, which means that there were no grounds for conflict,” he told journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Putin noted that he had observed negative actions in the West’s policy towards Russia, particularly, the support for separatism and terrorism within the territory of the Russian Federation was evident.

“But I, in my naivety, believed that this was merely an inertia of thought and action; they were used to fighting against the USSR and continued to do so,” Putin explained. He added that after the collapse of the USSR, the West wanted to destroy Russia and exploit its resources.