Putin warns Russia against pro-Western 'traitors' and scum

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a warning to Russians he described as traitors and said the West wanted to try to use them as a 'fifth column' to destroy the country.

The Kremlin leader assailed Russians who he said were more mentally aligned with the West than Russia and said the Russian people would quickly be able to tell the difference between traitors and patriots.

"Of course they (the West) will try to bet on the so-called fifth column, on traitors - on those who earn their money here, but live over there. Live, not in the geographical sense, but in the sense of their thoughts, their slavish thinking," he said.

Addressing government ministers nearly three weeks into Russia's war in Ukraine, Putin angrily attacked the West and those Russians he said were abetting it.

"The collective West wants to divide our society... to provoke civil confrontation in Russia and to use its fifth column to strive to achieve its aim. And there is one aim - the destruction of Russia," he said.