OREANDA-NEWS Russian President Vladimir Putin said that everything that is happening today in Ukraine is due to the ill-conceived policies of the collective West. He said this at a meeting on the development of Russia's oil industry, TASS reported, Gazeta.ru reported.

According to the head of state, Western countries ignored Russia's concerns about its own security for several decades and encouraged "nationalist, neo-fascist elements" in Ukraine, did not want to hear about the problems in Donbas and pandered to Kiev for eight years to "continue the hostilities."

Putin also said that the U.S. and its allies were trying to hide their mistakes from the public by making Russia "guilty" of the "energy inflation" situation.

He noted that today, for political reasons and because of their ambitions, the countries of Europe, under pressure from the "American suzerain," impose sanctions on oil and gas markets. All this leads to mistakes and instead of admitting their guilt Western politicians look for the guilty on the side, the President of Russia noted.

Earlier, Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said that the West was using Ukraine as a pretext for war against Russia.