Moscow, March 16 : Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the West is pushing Kiev to bloodshed. "It is also clear to us that Western patrons are simply pushing the Kiev authorities to continue the bloodshed," Putin said, RT reported. He noted that the supply of weapons and the dispatch of mercenaries continued. "Ukraine, encouraged by the United States and a number of Western countries, purposefully prepared for a military scenario. To the bloody massacre and ethnic cleansing in the Donbass. A massive attack on the Donbass and then on the Crimea was only a matter of time," Putin said. The Russian armed forces thwarted these plans, he claimed. "In Kiev, they were not only preparing for war, for aggression against Russia, against the Donbass, they were waging it. Attempts to organise sabotage and terrorist underground did not stop. In recent years, hostilities have continued in the Donbass, with shelling of peaceful settlements. During this time, almost 14,000 civilians died, including children," Vladimir Putin said. The economic difficulties of the population of Western countries are not caused by the actions of Russia, but were the result of myopic mistakes and ambitions of the ruling elites of their states, who are obsessed with superprofits, Putin said. "Evidence of this is the data of international organisations, which say that social problems even in the leading Western countries have only worsened in recent years: Inequality is growing, the gap between the poor and the rich, racial and national conflicts are making themselves felt. The myth of the Western welfare society, the so-called golden billion, is collapsing," the Russian head of state said at a meeting on economic issues. /IANS