- Summary- Blunt address on main family festival puts war centre-stage- Putin casts war as fight for survival that requires sacrifices- Russia is "defending our people and our historical territory"- President accuses West of provoking conflictDec 31 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his annual New Year's address on Saturday to rallying the Russian people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine and pledging victory over Ukrainian "neo-Nazis" and a West supposedly intent on "destroying Russia".In a stern and combative recorded video message, broadcast on national television, Putin cast the war - which he calls a "special military operation" - as a near-existential fight for the future of Russia.But the speech, delivered in front of grim-faced soldiers in combat uniform, put the war squarely centre-stage, telling families gathered for the year's main celebration that the months ahead would require support and sacrifice from everyone.As the war drags into its 11th month with no end in sight, the Kremlin has slowly put society on more of a war footing - calling up more than 300,000 reservists, often in chaotic fashion, retooling an economy hurt by a barrage of Western sanctions and saying publicly that the conflict may be long.Kyiv and the West reject Putin's oft-repeated allegation that the Western NATO alliance planned to use Ukraine as a platform to threaten Russia, and say he launched a baseless war of aggression in a bid to seize territory and install a regime more to his liking."