New Delhi, Sept. 1 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday defended his Ukraine offensive while blaming the West for triggering the three-and-a-half-year war that has killed tens of thousands and devastated much of eastern Ukraine.

"This crisis was not triggered by Russia's attack on Ukraine, but was a result of a coup in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West," Putin said at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin, news agencies reported.

Putin was referring to Ukraine's 2013-2014 pro-European revolution, which ousted a pro-Russian president.

Moscow had then responded by annexing the Crimean peninsula and backing pro-Russian separatists in the east, triggering a civil...