But he knows that kind of rhetoric will only further divide the West.
The leaders in the west don’t need any help with that.
The history of conflict leaders have always tried to frame their material goals with some kind of moral purpose. Sometimes with more sincerity than at other times. Certainly its opportunistic, but it cannot be denied Putin has a better point here than if he were making claims about tossing babies on bayonets or Remembering the Maine, etc. The western leadership elite have given themselves over to evil.