The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a decision taken by partisan leaders who did not take the opinion of the people into consideration before making their decision, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during an address to Kremlin.

The landmark address had been awaited since the results of the referenda of the liberated Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions' accession to Russia came out. 

"Contrary to the direct will of the people, the [Soviet Union] was ruined, and the people were confronted with a fact. We cannot go back to the past. And Russia no longer needs it. But there is nothing stronger than the determination of millions of people who consider themselves part of Russia, whose ancestors lived in a single state for centuries," President Putin added.

Moscow rn pic.twitter.com/mDtjdisySE

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) September 30, 2022

"There is nothing stronger than the determination of these people to return to their true historical fatherland," the Russian leader underlined.

He announced that the people living in the DPR, LPR, Kherson, and Zaparozhye "have become [Russian] citizens forever. I want people in Kiev and their real owners to listen to me; we call on Kiev to enter an immediate ceasefire to end the war they initiated back in 2014."

Putin announced Russia's formal recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR in late February. This led to Ukraine escalating against the republics and using various tactics to try and undermine their leadership and hurt their civilians.

Putin went on to explain that the opinion of the peoples of the liberated regions was not up for discussion with Kiev. "Russia will not betray them."

The President promised to protect Russia's territories, by all means, saying Moscow would rebuild all the leveled cities and towns and back the industrial sector, develop enterprises, upgrade the infrastructure, and introduce healthcare systems.

"The West's claims to world domination have been shattered more than once by the courage of our soldiers," Putin said in light of various military feats achieved by the Russian military in Ukraine. "Russia is a thousand-year-old country-civilization that will not live by rigged rules."

🇷🇺 Citizens of #Luhansk with tears in their eyes celebrate their official return to #Russia, welcome back home, where you belong! #freeland #trudeau #TrudeauResign #FreelandMustGo #canada #BBC #CNN pic.twitter.com/e32FtlD5Jp

— Matreshka 🇷🇺🇰🇿🇨🇦 (@MatreshkaCB) September 30, 2022

"It was the West that trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders, and now it decides who has the right to self-determination and who is 'not worthy' of it," the leader added.

He was referencing the fact that several bodies and states have said they would not recognize the accession of the regions to Russia and the fact that the UN Security Council even moved to condemn the referenda.

The resolution - drafted by the United States and Albania - has no chance of passing thanks to Moscow's veto power, though it can then be presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

"The West does not and never had the moral right to stutter about freedoms and democracy. They divide the world into their vassals and everyone else who, according to the plan of the Western racists, should join the list of 'barbarians' and 'savages'," Putin underlined.

He then pointed out that the West has been upholding its colonialist practices, saying its elites "are what they were and have remained so - colonialist. We have never accepted and will never accept this political racism. What, if not racism, is Russophobia spreading in the world?"

"We are proud that in the 20th century, it was our country that opened the anti-colonial movement," the Russian President added.

US subverts its allies

Putin recalled how the United States, alongside the United Kingdom, ran Germany into the ground and leveled its cities. "This was done defiantly, without any need, in order to intimidate both our country and the whole world."

He highlighted how Washington has occupied its closest "allies", such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea, while "cynically call[ing] them equal allies."

"They call their development of biological weapons and conducting of human experimentation 'noble medical research'," Putin underlined.

"The goal of the United States is the deindustrialization of Europe, and European elites understand this. This is not even servility, but a direct betrayal of their peoples," the Russian leader explained.

West behind Nord Stream explosions

"The Anglo-Saxons turned to sabotage by organizing explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines," Putin said, explicitly accusing the US and its allies of carrying out the attacks on Russia's Baltic Sea natural gas pipelines.

"By starting a sanctions blitzkrieg against the Russian Federation, the West believed that it could 'build' the whole world on its own command. But such a prospect excites only political masochists and fans of other non-traditional forms of international relations," Putin said.

"People cannot be accumulated with printed dollars and euros, and inflated virtual capitalization cannot heat up your home. You can not feed people with papers," the Russian people said in criticism of Europe's policy toward Russia.

"There is every reason to believe that the West is not going to look for a constructive way out of the food and energy crisis. There are fears that they are ready to use other recipes familiar to them," he added in a hint to the West not being willing to sit at a negotiations table with Russia due to its ability to provide its markets with what they need.

"The profits from World War II allowed the United States to impose the power of the dollar on the planet, and the imminent crisis of the 80s was overcome by appropriating the legacy and resources of the Soviet Union. Now they need at all costs to break Russia and other states that choose a sovereign course of development."

Anti-unipolar hegemony movement

"A liberation movement against unipolar hegemony is developing all over the world," Putin said. "Today, we are fighting to make dictatorship and despotism forever a thing of the past. We must turn this shameful page. The collapse of Western hegemony that has begun is irreversible. It won't be like before."

He also highlighted how the US was moving to contain Russia, China, and Iran, but other countries were next in line, "including current partners and allies of Washington."

I believe that other countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, as well as current partners and allies of the United States are next in line," Putin said.