“They lie recklessly, like Goebbels: the more incredible the lie, the faster they will believe in it. This is how they act according to his principles," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
By Goebbels' Principles, he was referring to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda.
He was speaking at a ceremony to illegally annex four regions of Ukraine following a series of votes Kyiv and the West have denounced as illegal, sham referendums. Putin said Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would be merged into Russia.
He accused Western countries of having "drowned the truth in an ocean of illusions and fakes."
He said the US is telling Europe to convince its citizens “to eat less, wash less often, and dress warmer at home.”
"People cannot be fed with pieces of paper [dollar and euro] and cannot be warmed by artificially inflated capitalizations, people need food and energy," he added.
