Shortly before the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine he ordered, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for the war.

"They started the war," Putin said in his State of the Union address today, referring to Western countries. Russia is only trying to end the fighting, the Kremlin chief claimed in his speech to the representatives of the Federal Assembly. It is composed of the State Duma and the Federation Council and met in the Gostiny Dvor event center in Moscow.

Putin once again said that a "neo-Nazi regime" was in power in Ukraine. The "special military operation" that Moscow calls the war will continue. "Step by step, carefully and consistently, we will solve the tasks ahead of us," said the 70-year-old.

On Friday, February 24th, it will be a year since Russia officially started the war against Ukraine. Putin's appearance was his 18th state of the nation address to date. The previous one was almost two years ago and took place in April 2021. Last year there were none; the head of the Kremlin explained this with a very high "dynamics of events".