PUTIN: EUROPEAN LEADERS USE WAR THREATS TO SALVAGE THEIR RATINGS

MOSCOW, SEPTEMBER 18 /SRNA – RIA Novosti/ – European leaders, with their statements that they are preparing for war with Russia, are attempting to salvage their sharply declining ratings and conceal failures in economic and social policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"However, they are not succeeding, and it is not helping them," Putin said. He stressed that Russia has no aggressive intentions and is ready to cooperate and restore relations with Europe. "Instead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who clearly show in elections that they do not want war with Russia, European leaders continue to further escalate tensions," Putin said. According to him, they are using the situation in Ukraine to further escalate the conflict, treating Ukrainians as cannon fodder. He said the Kyiv regime needs the war in order to remain in power. "Power in Ukraine has been usurped by a group of embezzlers and corrupt officials who need the war to remain in power without elections," Putin said at a meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission. He added that the Kyiv authorities are corrupt to the core. "The regime in Ukraine cannot defend democracy because it has itself degenerated into a dictatorship," Putin added.