Vladimir Putin: The ruling elites in the West actually ignore public opinion

"The ruling elites in some Western countries turn freedom, democracy, human rights and opportunities into decorations and actually ignore public opinion. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the ANO "Russia - Land of Opportunities", TASS reports.

"They [foreign representatives of the "Russia - Land of Opportunities" platform] share our views, they are faced with the fact that the so-called ruling elites in some Western countries turn freedom, democracy, rights and human opportunities into decorations, and in fact ignore public opinion", the Russian president said.

Putin stressed the importance of the fact that the platform's work covers not only Russia. "Participants in its projects are citizens of more than 150 countries, including Western European and North American countries. And the number of foreign representatives, despite, and perhaps thanks to, the information campaign launched against us, is growing", he commented.

According to the head of state of the Russian Federation, many colleagues and like-minded people of Russia abroad take an active part in joint creative work. "And what's more, they even talk about it, they see in Russia a stronghold of traditional spiritual and moral values, close to people all over the planet. And I think this is not a secret, I will not say anything unusual: we see that in many countries these ideas are perceived by those people who today have quite broad and large powers, which cannot but please us", Putin also pointed out.