The threat to Russia will increase significantly if Ukraine joins NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, speaking at the country’s Security Council, which meets regularly, and even on live television, amid escalating tensions between Moscow and the West. with regard to Ukraine.
The Russian president also said in a televised statement that his French counterpart Emanuel Macron had told him that there had been a change in Washington’s stance on Russian security requirements, but that he did not know what the change was, according to Reuters. .
Meanwhile, once again, Putin has rejected Western claims that a statement that Ukraine would not soon join NATO would be a concession to Russia, because the Alliance is not ready to do so anyway.
“I am discussing this issue with my colleagues. And my American colleague has assured me that they are not preparing to accept (NATO) Ukraine ‘tomorrow’. Much more that some kind of moratorium is possible,” the Russian president said. that NATO simply considers that Ukraine is not yet ready to join the alliance.
“That’s why my answer was simple: this is not a concession to us. It’s just a realization of your plans. Do you think we need to wait and prepare Ukraine to join NATO. So here’s the moratorium. No. “For us, but for you, you are doing this moratorium,” Putin said.
The French president, according to Putin, also told him that the Ukrainian leadership is ready to implement the Minsk peace process, while working on new ideas for holding elections in the two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Putin’s comment came in response to an assessment by his special envoy for Ukraine, Dmitry Kozak, who said he did not believe Kiev would ever implement the peace agreements as they stand.
Donetsk and Luhansk recognition “window”
In a televised address, however, the Russian president said it was necessary to consider calls by leaders of the two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine for Russia to recognize them as independent. A development that will further intensify tensions with the West and Kiev.
The two Kremlin-backed areas have come to the fore because of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis triggered by the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine and fears of an imminent Russian invasion of the country, which Moscow categorically denies.
Mr Putin said it was clear Ukraine did not intend to implement the Ming peace agreement, which aims to end the conflict in the pro-Russian Donbass region, where clashes between Ukrainian government forces and separatists have cost 15,000 lives. people.
“It is clear to everyone that (Ukraine) is not going to do anything about the Minsk package … Russia has made and continues to make efforts to resolve all the difficult and tragic aspects of the course of events, “But today we are at this point,” he said at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, which aims to determine the Kremlin’s next steps.
It is worth noting that if Moscow recognizes the two breakaway regions, it actually paves the way for Russia to officially send military forces to them, citing the argument that it is intervening as an ally to protect them from Ukraine.
The Russian president even noted that the relevant decision will be taken by the Kremlin today, without specifying what he will support, adding, however, that Russia does not intend to annex the two breakaway regions.
Shoigu: Ukraine strengthens its forces near the breakaway regions
For his part, the Russian Defense Minister informed the Russian President on Monday that Ukraine has gathered strong forces near the breakaway regions in the east of the country and that it may be preparing to try to retake them by force, something that Kiev has denied. repeatedly.
Shoigu even accused Ukraine of intensifying bombings in the breakaway regions.
Earlier on Monday, Kiev denied Moscow’s allegations that a shell fired from Ukrainian territory completely destroyed a border guard post in Rostov, Russia.
Medvedev: Maybe we should recognize the breakaway regions
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, said Moscow might need to recognize the independence of the two breakaway republics of eastern Ukraine if the situation there did not improve, which he considered unlikely.
Medvedev, Russia’s vice-president of the Security Council, told Vladimir Putin that the majority of Russians would support the independence of the two regions, which are home to some 800,000 Russians.
Source: Capital
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