Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia has “no unfriendly countries—only unfriendly elites” and insisted Moscow is trying to end the conflict that began in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014. Speaking at a public forum on 22 Aug., Putin argued that Western narratives portraying Russia as the aggressor amount to propaganda. Putin added that Russia continues to supply fuel and other services to Western nations “almost in the same quantities” as before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and claimed interaction with the United States is already being re-established. He contrasted Russia’s stance with what he called Western Europe’s loss of sovereignty, saying Moscow “cannot live like that.”