i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused the West of trying to destroy Russia, urging prosecutors to take a tough line with what he called plots by foreign spies to divide the country.
Speaking to Russia’s top prosecutors, Putin accused the West of inciting Ukraine to plan attacks on Russian journalists – an allegation denied by Kyiv.
“They have moved to terror – to preparing the murder of our journalists,” he said.
Russia’s leader, a former KGB spy, did not provide any evidence to support his accusations.
According to FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, a group of six neo-nationalist Russian citizens plotted to kill Solovyev – one of Russia’s most high-profile journalists – at the behest of Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU).
The SBU referred to such allegations as fantasies cooked up by Moscow, and said it “has no plans to assassinate V. Solovyev.”
Solovyev, a host of talk shows whose guests often denigrate Ukraine and justify Moscow’s actions there, thanked the FSB.
Putin continued in his address that the West realized Ukraine could not beat Russia in war so it had to move to a different plan: “To split Russian society and destroy Russia from within.”
