Putin, Running for 5th Term in Next Year's Presidential Election, Reflects "I Was Naive"

Russian President Vladimir Putin recalled that in the early 2000s, when he first came to power, he had the "naive" belief that there was no reason to confront the West.

On the 17th (local time), President Putin said on the state-run channel Rossiya 1, "I had the naive thought that the whole world, especially the so-called civilized world, understood what was happening in Russia."

He continued, "I thought the West understood that Russia had become a completely different country, that there was no longer ideological confrontation, and that this meant there was no basis for conflict."

Even when Western countries pursued negative policies against Russia and especially supported separatism and terrorism occurring on Russian territory, he said, "I believed this was simply inertia of thought and action."

However, he concluded that reality was different and that his initial approach was very naive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin [Photo by Yonhap News]

President Putin stated, "What I later became convinced of was that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West thought, 'We can also bring down Russia,'" adding, "After the Soviet collapse, the West wanted to destroy Russia, divide it into several parts, conquer Russia, and exploit our resources."

President Putin came to power as acting president following the resignation of former President Boris Yeltsin on December 31, 1999. Since being first elected president the following year, he has continued his fourth term in office. Last year, he engaged in a war with Ukraine, sharply confronting the West.

On the 16th (local time), Russian local media reported that a nomination group consisting of more than 700 voters unanimously supported President Putin's independent candidacy for next year. If President Putin runs in the March presidential election next year and succeeds in his fifth term, he will extend his rule until 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.