Russian President Vladimir Putin used an annual speech to accuse the West of stoking a global war to destroy Russia and to praise the efforts of his troops in Ukraine.
Speaking in a televised address in Moscow the day after US President Joe Biden unexpectedly visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, there was speculation Mr Putin would announce a sharp escalation in the war in retaliation.
Though he did not quite meet expectations, there were some notable developments in his address ahead of the anniversary of the conflict, alongside the familiar rhetoric about radicals in the West.
Here are the key takeaways from Mr Putin's address.
Nuclear treaty suspended
Mr Putin announced Russia would suspend its participation from a nuclear treaty with the US.
Russia and the US signed the New START treaty in 2010 to limit the number of nuclear warheads each country could deploy.
Russia possesses the most nuclear warheads of any country in the world, and between them, the US and Russia hold nearly 90 per cent of the world's supply.
"I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty," Mr Putin said, citing an imbalance in attention on Russia's nuclear activities over that of the US.
He said that Russia was not withdrawing from the treaty entirely and stressed that he would not be the one to "strike first" with nuclear weapons.
Mr Putin did, however, say he had instructed nuclear authorities in Russia to ensure the country would be ready to test nuclear weapons if needed.
"Of course, we will not be the first to do this. But if the United States tests, then we will," he said.
Radical rhetoric
Mr Putin rattled off his usual justifications for the war in Ukraine, saying Russian troops were defending the interests of its people in the Donbas and were "liquidating the neo-Nazi threat".
He said Russia had done everything it could to avoid war, but that Western-backed Ukraine had been planning to attack Russian-controlled Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.
"It's they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it," Mr Putin said.
"The people of Ukraine have become the hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords."
He accused the West of "opening the way" for Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and said history was on the cusp of repeating in Ukraine this century.
"Everything repeats itself,” he said.
He accused the West of extreme Russophobia and of facilitating a culture of “broken morals”.
Mr Putin said Russia has been “tolerant” of same-sex marriage, but traditional family structures, as prescribed by religious texts, were the foundations of Russian culture and were under threat.
"But the West is doubting these sacred texts ... we have to protect our children from degradation and degeneration – and we will," he said.
In the same breath, he claimed paedophilia was normalised in the West and accused Western nations of seeking to “destabilise our society” with its influence.
Western capitalism is a ‘ghost’
Mr Putin put on a show of defiance when speaking of Western sanctions and Russia’s economy.
Though he said the effect had not been the “suffering” the West had hoped, he called upon Russia’s business elite to turn their attentions domestically.
Russian oligarchs and entrepreneurs have been among the targets of sweeping Western sanctions in response to Mr Putin’s war.
“The latest events have demonstrated that the image of the West as a safe haven, a refuge for capital, was just a ghost,” he said.
“Those who saw Russia as just a source of income and were planning to live abroad, they saw that they just got robbed in the West.”
He said everyday Russians had no sympathy for high-flyers who lost money in foreign banks or had their yachts and properties seized, and the way to earn money and respect was in Russia.
"Trying to run around with your hand outstretched, grovelling, begging for money [from the West], is pointless," he said.
"Launch new projects, make money, invest in Russia."
Mr Putin welcomed what he said was a long-overdue structural transformation of the Russian economy to rely less on the West.
No mention of mobilisation
One thing some were expecting to hear from Mr Putin was an announcement of further mobilisation to bolster Russia's army.
Intelligence officials have been predicting for weeks that Russia would make the call, speculating that hundreds of thousands would be called to the frontline ahead of a widely rumoured spring offensive.
Since Mr Putin's previous mobilisation in September last year, numerous accounts have come out describing poor living conditions and substandard training and equipment.
Compensation for the loved ones of those who have died in the war has also often been deemed inadequate.
"We all understand, I understand how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who raised worthy defenders of the Fatherland,"Mr Putin said, announcing additional “support” measures for bereaved families.
He then announced a range of benefits such as higher wages, paid leave and social security for those who join the defence sector, in the hope of enticing more volunteer recruits.
Mr Putin gave no indication that the end of the war was near and promised to continue Russia's offensive "step by step”.
