Putin rues Soviet collapse, says he moonlit as a taxi driver to survive economic crisis

Putin's feedback, launched by state TV on Sunday, are doubtless to additional gas hypothesis about his international coverage intentions amongst critics, who accuse him of planning to recreate the Soviet Union and of considering an assault on Ukraine, a notion the Kremlin has dismissed as fear-mongering.

"Sometimes (I) had to moonlight and drive a taxi. It is unpleasant to talk about this but, unfortunately, this also took place," the president stated.Putin, who served within the Soviet-era KGB, has beforehand known as the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was dominated from Moscow, as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the twentieth century, however his new feedback present how he considered it particularly as a setback for Russian energy.Ukraine was one among 15 Soviet republics and Putin used a prolonged article revealed on the Kremlin web site this 12 months to set out why he believed Russia's southern neighbor and its folks had been an integral a part of Russian historical past and tradition. This view is rejected by Kiev as a politically motivated and over-simplified model of historical past.The West has accused Russia of massing tens of hundreds of troops close to Ukraine in preparation for a potential assault as quickly as January. The Group of Seven rich democracies warned Moscow on Sunday of large penalties and extreme prices if it attacked Ukraine.The Kremlin has stated Russia has no plans to launch a contemporary assault on Ukraine and that the West seems to have satisfied itself of Moscow's aggressive intentions based mostly on what it calls false Western media tales.Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea area in 2014 and has backed separatists who took management of a swath of jap Ukraine that very same 12 months and who proceed to battle Ukrainian authorities forces.