Putin blames West for Ukraine crisis, denies attempts at empire building

LAURA Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West on Friday for the conflict in Ukraine and denied accusations of empire building or trying to undermine the sovereignty of neighbouring countries.

In a speech to a group of political scholars called the Valdai Club in which he was fiercely critical of the United States, Putin said the risk of conflicts involving big powers had risen along with the threat of arms control treaties being violated.

The president also called for talks on internationally acceptable conditions for the use of force, criticising what he portrayed as arbitrary foreign interference in internal affairs of other countries.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk, Writing by Jason Bush, Editing by Timothy Heritage)