This Wednesday, April 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his annual message to the Federal Assembly of Russia in which he condemned the attempts to change governments by force, such as those that occurred in Belarus or Venezuela.

“You can have any opinion about, for example, the former president of Ukraine [Victor] Yanukovych or [President of Venezuela, Nicolás] Maduro (…) have any point of view about the president of Belarus, [Alexandr] Lukashenko, but the practice of organizing coups, plans for political assassinations, including those of high-ranking officials, exceed all limits,” Putin said, as reported by Mundo Sputnik.

He added that, “unfortunately, it seems that everyone is already used to the practice of illegal sanctions for political reasons in the economy, attempts by some countries to impose their will on others by force, but today this practice is becoming very much more dangerous.”

Putin specified that he was referring to, “the recently known facts of a direct attempt to organize a coup in Belarus and the assassination of the president of this country,” and also condemned the absence of a Western reaction to these events.

He recalled that before the coup in Ukraine in 2014, there were regrettable civilian casualties and a situation developed that today continues to violate Russian sovereignty.

Translation: Orinoco Tribune