Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused the West of trying to destroy Russia and urged prosecutors to take a tough stance on what he calls plans devised by foreign spies to divide the country and discredit its armed forces.

Speaking to senior Russian prosecutors and watched by the defense minister, Putin accused the West of inciting attacks on Russian journalists.

He said that the FSB (Federal Security Service), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, thwarted an assassination attempt by a “terrorist group” against a famous Russian television journalist, today dubbed by state media as Vladimir Solovyev.

“They turned to terror – to prepare for the killing of our journalists,” Putin said of the West.

Solovyev is one of Russia’s most influential radio and television journalists and talk show host whose guests often belittle Ukraine and justify Moscow’s actions in the neighboring country.

Putin, a former KGB spy who has ruled Russia as supreme leader since the last day of 1999, did not immediately provide evidence to support his claims, and Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the allegations.

Solovyev could not be immediately reached for comment.

Putin said that the West understood that Ukraine could not defeat Russia in the war, and therefore switched to a different plan, to destroy Russia itself.

“Another task has arisen: to divide Russian society and destroy Russia from within,” said Putin. “Not working.”

Putin said that foreign media outlets and social media are used by Western spies to provocation against the Russian Armed Forces.

Without giving concrete examples, Putin said prosecutors must react quickly to false news and reports that undermine order.

“Often they are organized abroad, they are organized in different ways – either the knowledge comes from there, or the money,” said Putin. He added that prosecutors should tackle extremism “more actively”.

A few days after Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, he signed a law punishable by up to 15 years in prison for deliberately spreading “false” news about the military.

Russia says Western media have given an extremely partial account of the Ukraine war, largely ignoring Moscow’s concerns about NATO expansion and the persecution of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.

Ukraine, which rejects discrimination against Russian speakers, did not immediately respond to Putin’s statement.

Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine killed thousands, displaced millions, and raised fears of a wider conflict between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, Russia and the United States.

Putin said a “special military operation” in Ukraine was necessary because the United States used Ukraine to threaten Russia, and that Ukraine was guilty of committing genocide against Russian-speaking people.

Ukraine says it is fighting Russia’s land usurpation and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense.