{"id":1268944,"date":"2022-12-22T14:11:21","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/22\/whats-happening-now-is-a-tragedy-not-our-fault-putin\/"},"modified":"2022-12-22T14:11:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T14:11:21","slug":"whats-happening-now-is-a-tragedy-not-our-fault-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/22\/whats-happening-now-is-a-tragedy-not-our-fault-putin\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s happening now is a tragedy, not our fault \u2013 Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"400\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/image_2022-03-28_122318.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"Vladmir Putin\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Vladimir Putin believes Russia is not to blame for the war in Ukraine, adding both countries are \u201csharing a tragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>During a televised address with senior military officials, the Russian president said he continued to see Ukraine as a \u201cbrotherly nation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed the conflict was \u201cthe result of the policy of third countries\u201d and not down to Russian policy.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/22191989129,1002554\/MGL\/mgl_ado_atunwa_300x250 --><\/p>\n<p>The theory, which implies Western expansion is the cause, has been repeatedly dismissed outside Russia.<\/p>\n<p>President Putin claimed the West had \u201cbrainwashed\u201d post-Soviet republics, starting with Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cFor years, we tried to build good-neighbourly relations with Ukraine, offering loans and cheap energy, but it did not work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to accuse us of. We\u2019ve always seen Ukrainians as a brotherly people and I still think so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s happening now is a tragedy, but it\u2019s not our fault.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Defence-Minister-Sergei-Shoigu-proposed-beefing-up-the-armed-forces.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption><strong>Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed beefing up the armed forces<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During the address, military officials vowed to continue the so-called \u201cspecial military operation\u201d into 2023.<\/p>\n<p>President Putin added there was no limit to the amount of money Russia was willing to spend.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed raising the age range for mandatory Russian military service.<\/p>\n<p>Under the current law, Russians aged 18-27\u00a0can be called up for mandatory military service\u00a0\u2013 Mr Shoigu is now proposing this covers citizens aged 21-30.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Shoigu also announced plans to establish bases in two port cities \u2013 Berdyansk and Mariupol \u2013 seized during the Russian offensive.<\/p>\n<p>The address came as Ukrainian leader Volodmyr Zelensky\u00a0travelled to the US Capitol in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>It is his first visit outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded 10 months ago.<\/p>\n<p>            <!--  [embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=videoseries[\/embed]<!--\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>--><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"OLR1_8avLXA\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My EP will be out early next year - Kofi Kinaata\u2013 Anigyee Kasee - Adom TV News (21-12-22)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OLR1_8avLXA?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vladimir Putin believes Russia is not to blame for the war in Ukraine, adding both countries are \u201csharing a tragedy\u201d. During a televised address with senior military officials, the Russian president said he continued to see Ukraine as a \u201cbrotherly nation\u201d. He claimed the conflict was \u201cthe result of the policy of third countries\u201d and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1268945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1268944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1268944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1268944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1268944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1268944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}