Vladimir Putin blames the West for sparking the Ukraine war at the SCO summit, rejecting ceasefire calls and pushing back against NATO expansion
Vladimir Putin has blamed the West for triggering the ongoing war in Ukraine, using a major summit in China to defend Russia’s three-and-a-half-year military offensive.
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Speaking on Monday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, the Russian president claimed that the crisis stemmed not from Moscow’s actions, but from Western-backed political upheaval in Ukraine.
“This crisis was not triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West,” Putin said.
He referred to the 2013–2014 pro-European revolution in Ukraine that ousted a pro-Russian president — a pivotal event that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine.
Putin doubled down on his longstanding narrative that the West’s push to bring Ukraine into NATO is the second key reason for the war.
His remarks were delivered before an audience of key Russian allies, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Framing the conflict as part of a broader global struggle, Putin called for a new international security framework:
“The world needs a system that would replace outdated Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models, and take into account the interests of the widest circle of countries,” he declared.
The SCO, co-led by Moscow and Beijing, has been promoted as a counterweight to Western-led institutions such as NATO and the European Union.
Despite past efforts by former U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, negotiations have stalled.
Putin has laid out hardline conditions — including Ukraine ceding more territory and renouncing Western support — which Ukraine has flatly rejected.
Kyiv views those terms as unacceptable and insists any agreement must respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Putin is expected to hold bilateral meetings later Monday with Indian PM Modi, Iranian President Pezeshkian, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, where the Ukraine conflict will be a key topic.
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He also stated he would share details of recent talks with Trump and discuss diplomatic options to end the war, though no concrete proposals were announced at the summit.
