Developing North-South Corridor to deepen Iran-Russia ties

Russia spent many years seeking a constructive dialogue with the West, and proposing an indivisible, equality-based system of joint security, but received only a "hypocritical" reaction - NATO's expansion to Russia's doorstep and missile defense umbrellas across Europe and Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, speaking to lawmakers during his address to the Federal Assembly, Sputnik reported.

Putin accused the US and its allies of playing the "same double game" in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as they had in the years and decades prior in other countries.

"This disgusting method of deception has been used many times before. [The West] behaved just as shamelessly, duplicitously, destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never be able to wash themselves clean of this shame. The concepts of honor, trust, and decency are foreign to them. After many centuries of colonialism, dictate, and hegemony they have become used to everything being allowed to them, have become accustomed to spitting on the entire world; and it turned out that they treat the peoples of their own countries in the same way," Putin said.

"We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialog with the West. We said and insisted that both Europe and the entire world needed an indivisible system of security based on equality for all states. For many years we offered to discuss this idea with our partners and work together on its implementation. In response, we received an indistinct or hypocritical reaction," he said.

Russia is developing International North–South Transport Corridor, which opens prospects for deeper cooperation with India, Iran, and Pakistan, Putin also said.