Putin says neo-Nazism ideas are everywhere, but no country glorifies it except Ukraine, which elevates it to the national level.
At the same time, Russia, he said, respects the Ukrainian people: 3 million Ukrainians live in Russia, we treat Russians and Ukrainians equally.
"We always, and despite the tragedy of today, have great respect for the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian culture, for the Ukrainian language, literature, and so on. We have never allowed anything that is allowed in Ukraine in relation to Russian culture and the Russian language "For our part, we will follow a different path: we will treat everything Ukrainian with respect."
“Perhaps there would not have been this conflict today, if there were no attempts by some forces in Ukraine itself and in the West to correct history and tear this history apart, if there was no glorification of those who collaborated with Hitler, with the Nazis, if there would be no desire to revive this neo-Nazism in our historical territories"