LAST UPDATE 21:05
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the West had ignored Moscow’s main concerns in official responses it sent last week, following Russia’s demands for legally binding security guarantees, according to Reuters.
“It is already clear … that Russia’s basic concerns have been ignored,” Putin told a news conference.
At the same time, the Russian president expressed his hope that the dialogue on Ukraine would continue, in order to avoid “negative scenarios”, such as the possibility of a war.
Putin did not even rule out the possibility of a military confrontation between Russia and NATO if Ukraine joined the Alliance and then tried to retake Crimea from Russia by force.
“Let’s imagine Ukraine being a member of NATO and launching these military operations. Are we going to go to war with NATO? Has anyone thought of that? Obviously not,” he said.
The Russian president stressed that a way must be found to protect the security of all parties.
Speaking at a news conference in the Kremlin after meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin accused the United States of seeking to use Ukraine to contain Russia.
“Ukraine is just a tool to achieve its goals. This can be done in different ways, dragging us into some kind of armed conflict and with the help of their allies in Europe, imposing the severe sanctions they are currently discussing in the US. “, he said.
At the same time, he stressed that the deployment of US missile systems in Romania and Poland would threaten Russia’s security. At the same time, he left open the possibility of a meeting with French President Emanuel Macron in Moscow soon.
This is the first time since December 23 that the Russian president has made public statements about the Ukraine crisis.
Western officials say Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, with numbers rising steadily since November. The United Kingdom and the United States estimate that some 130,000 troops are in the area. Moscow, however, denies any plans to invade Ukraine.
Source: Capital
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