Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday released a video that appeared to be a warning to oligarchs who have enjoyed life outside of their homeland.
Putin, speaking in a televised address from the Kremlin, warned the West would use "those who earn their money here, but live over there, as a 'fifth column' to 'divide our society.'"
The "fifth column" is a term used to describe a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage from within.
"I do not judge those with villas in Miami or the French Riviera," Putin said. "Or who can't get by without oysters or foie gras or so-called 'gender freedoms.' The problem is they mentally exist there, and not here, with our people, with Russia. The West will try to bet on the so-called fifth column, on traitors ... to divide our society ... to provoke civil confrontation ... to strive to achieve its aim. And there is one aim — the destruction of Russia."
Putin's remarks came after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for fellow Russians to "take out" the president following the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion into Ukraine.
The video also suggests Putin might be worried about how the Ukraine war has evolved after three weeks. Many experts had expected Russia to capture the neighboring country within days.
Putin insisted Wednesday that Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine and would not submit to what he called a Western attempt to achieve global dominance and dismember Russia. What has been called Russia’s special military operation was "going to plan," he added.
The mention of "gender freedoms" came after Putin, in his Feb. 24 declaration of invasion into Ukraine, said the West had undermined "traditional values."
"[Western countries] sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature," Putin said, The New York Times reported. "This is not going to happen."
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