MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West’s attempts to portray the corrupt Kiev regime as the main defender of democracy in Europe sound rather strange.

The head of state noted that the West is putting forward the thesis that Ukraine allegedly defends European values, European civilization, and democracy.

"No one is talking about how the current regime in Ukraine can defend democracy when it has long since degenerated into a dictatorship," Putin said at a meeting of the Military·Industrial Commission. "And this thoroughly corrupt regime, is it really the main defender of democracy in Europe? That sounds a bit strange."

Air defenses down 344 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight — top brass

On-duty air defenses intercepted and destroyed 344 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the past night over the Leningrad, Novgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Oryol, Kaluga, Tula, Ryazan, Lipetsk, Vladimir, Rostov, Krasnodar, Moscow Regions, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, the Republic of Dagestan and over the Black Sea

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