President Vladimir Putin warned Russians on Thursday that Western nations want to chain the Russian bear, pull out its teeth and ultimately have it stuffed.
Russia Today reported:
“It’s not payback for Crimea. It’s the cost of our natural desire to preserve Russia as a nation, a civilization and a state,” Putin said.
The president said that even if “the Russian bear” started “sitting tight… and eating berries and honey,” this would not stop pressure being applied against the country.
“They won’t leave us alone. They will always seek to chain us. And once we are chain, they’ll rip out our teeth and claws. Our nuclear deterrence, speaking in present-day terms,” Putin said.
“As soon as this [chaining the bear] happens, nobody will need it anymore. They’ll stuff it. And start to put their hands on his Taiga [Siberian forest belt] after it. We’ve heard statements from Western officials that Russia’s owning Siberia was not fair,” he exclaimed.
“Stealing Texas from Mexico – was that fair? And us having control over our own land is not fair. We should hand it out!”
Putin made the comments during his annual QandA session with the media.
