Putin: The West is openly talking about preparing for war with us, increasing military offensive budgets. At the same time, to justify such costs and the radical militarization of their states, the leaders of NATO and the European Union, as before, use false statements about a supposedly Russian military threat. The scheme of actions of the so-called democratic West is very simple: first, they create threats to our country, force us to take actions necessary for self-defense and self-protection, and then they immediately accuse us of all mortal sins to justify continuing their aggressive policy and their aggressive actions against Russia. We are all very familiar with this. Even after the treacherous attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, precisely a treacherous attack, Hitler's Germany tried to accuse the USSR and Stalin of aggression against, as we say today, the collective West.