West, trying to force its will on world: Putin

Munich, Germany, Feb 10: Russian President Vladimir Putin harshly criticised the United States and other Western nations today for what he said was an attempt to force their will on the rest of the world and make it ''unipolar''.

''What is a unipolar world? No matter how we beautify this term it means one single centre of power, one single centre of force and one single master,'' Putin told an annual gathering of top security and defence officials in southern Germany.

''It has nothing in common with democracy because that is the opinion of the majority taking into account the minority opinion.

People are always teaching us democracy but the people who teach us democracy don't want to learn it themselves,'' he said.

Putin said that the United States, above all, had repeatedly overstepped its national borders in questions of international security, a policy that he said had not made the world safer. On the contrary, the world had become less safe, he said.

''Unilateral actions have not resolved conflicts but have made them worse,'' Putin said.

''This is very dangerous. Nobody feels secure any more because nobody can hide behind international law,'' he said.

He did not mention any specific conflicts. However, Putin has been very critical of the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

Reuters