SOCHI. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he hopes that Russia will follow its own way after he departs as president and will not let itself return to the path they were trying to impose on it before 2022.
"Russia is going its own path, I hope it will not divert from the path of following its national interests. It certainly needs to be integrated, we have never given that up. However, I would not like Russia to get back on the path it followed before 2022. It was a path that involved a hidden and concealed intervention against our country," Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club, responding to a question as to whether the West would be able to return Russia to its previous path under new president.
"Russia cannot exist as a subordinate or semi-subordinate state," Putin said. "It seems to me that our people, ordinary citizens realized this when they understood what geopolitical opponents are trying to do to us," Putin said.
"People realized what is happening, they realized what they are trying to do to us, no matter how nice it looked or how patronizingly they patted us on the shoulder," he said.
"This is exactly what such an unusual consolidation of Russian society is linked to. It is precisely the understanding of what the cardinal response on Russia's part is about, which is to strengthen its independence, self-sufficiency, and sovereignty," Putin said.