MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday described the conflict in Ukraine as the culmination of Western efforts to contain Russia and sought to play Moscow’s “natural partner” Europe against the United States.

In a keynote speech laying out his foreign policy priorities, Putin lambasted the US drive to sideline Moscow and said Europe has become a victim of “short-sighted, ideology-driven approaches”.

“We should clearly understand that the events provoked in Ukraine have become the essence of the proverbial politics of containment,” Putin said in the biennial address to ambassadors.

“Let me stress that what has happened in Ukraine is the culmination of negative tendencies in global affairs and they have been accumulating for years,” he said.

In what political analysts said appeared to be an undisguised attempt to drive a wedge between Brussels and Washington, Putin said Moscow’s “natural partner” Europe appeared to be a pawn in international politics.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2014