Russia is not trying to bring back the USSR, President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary aired, but the problem is that "nobody wants to believe it".

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, which saw pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych ousted by pro-European demonstrators, Moscow has accused the West of using "the politics of containment" in a Cold War throwback.

"With Ukraine and other areas of the former USSR, I'm sure our Western partners aren't working in the interests of Ukraine, they are working to prevent the recreation of the USSR," he said in World Order, a documentary broadcast on the public Rossiya 1 channel.

"But nobody wants to believe us, nobody wants to believe that we're not trying to bring the Soviet Union back," he said.

The president also used the documentary to take a familiar swipe at Western intervention in North Africa and the Middle East.

"You can't just impose your version of democracy, of good and evil, onto people of other cultures, with other religions and traditions in this mechanic, automatic way," he said.

"Apparently (the West) think they're infallible, but when the moment comes to take some responsibility, they disappear," he said.