Putin accuses West of containing Russia via Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday developments of the Ukrainian crisis testified to Western countries' lasting attempts to contain Russia.

"We must understand clearly that the developments, provoked in Ukraine, are a concentrated manifestation of the notorious policy of containment," Putin told Russian ambassadors and permanent envoys.

"Obviously, that policy has never been interrupted even after the end of the Cold War," RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, events happening around the world have shown that the unipolar model based on western domination as well as double standards toward Russia were "no longer operational," said the president.

"I hope pragmatism will triumph after all," he said. "The West will rid itself of the ambitions and desire to put 'world barracks" in place, to line all up by ranks and to force uniform rules of conduct and living on society."

Also, he said the West should build and maintain relations with other countries "on the basis of equality and mutual respect."