'Plunder of India...'Putin rails against Western powers in his speech

Accusing the West of provoking colour revolution in any country for geopolitical gains, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that the West has "plundered" countries like India in contradiction to the values of "truth, freedom and justice," according to Reuters translation of Putin's speech.

"The West ... began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, and then followed the slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, of Africa, the wars of England and France against China ... What they did was hooking entire nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate entire ethnic groups," said Putin in the St George's Hall at a Kremlin ceremony as per Reuters translation. "For the sake of land and resources, they hunted people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom and justice," he added as he condemned West for stirring up new conflicts.

Putin said that the West stands ready to provoke revolution in any country. "Following their goals, our geopolitical opponents - our opponents as we called them until quite recently - are prepared to put anyone, any country, in the line of fire; to turn it into the epicenter of a crisis; to provoke a "color revolution" and unleash a bloodbath," as per Reuters translation of Putin's speech which he gave in Russian.

"We have seen all this on more than one occasion. We also know that the West works on scenarios to stir up new conflicts in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) area. But we have enough of them as it is. You need but look at what's happening now between Russia and Ukraine, what's happening on the borders of some other CIS countries," he added.

In an all-out attack on the West, Putin in the ceremony formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people."

(ANI)