VLadimir Putin said on Tuesday that he hoped that the West and Russia would find “a solution” to their crisis, while accusing Washington of using Ukraine as an instrument to drag Moscow into an “armed conflict”. “I hope that in the end we will find a solution, even if it is not easy”, he said, after considering that “the main objective of the United States is the containment of Russia and (that) Ukraine is (their) instrument to drag us into an armed conflict, and hit us with the harshest sanctions”.
The Russian president made no mention of the tens of thousands of soldiers he has deployed at the gates of Ukrainian territory for weeks, and which lead the Western world to think that he is preparing a new attack against his neighbor after that of 2014 Vladimir Putin painted a disaster scenario, noting that if Ukraine became a member of NATO, it would try by force to reconquer Crimea annexed by Russia eight years ago. “Imagine, Ukraine, a member of NATO, which would launch a military operation in Crimea, a Russian sovereign territory, he said, and us what? Would we make war on NATO? »
Vladimir Putin also judged “clear” that the United States and NATO have chosen so far to ignore Russia’s concerns for its security, in view of the rejection of its demands. “We are analyzing the written responses received from the United States and NATO […] but it is already clear that Russia’s principled concerns have been ignored,” the Russian president said after his meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“No one should strengthen their security at the expense of others”
He listed the main Russian demands: the end of NATO’s enlargement policy, the commitment not to deploy offensive weapons near Russian borders and the withdrawal of Alliance military positions on the borders of 1997, that is to say before the organization welcomed ex-members of the Soviet bloc. “Ignoring our concerns, the United States and NATO point to the right of each State to freely choose how it wants to guarantee its security”, noted Vladimir Putin, hammering however that another principle provides that “no one should strengthen its security at the expense of others.
He had not spoken on the merits of diplomatic efforts on the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine for several weeks. Washington accuses Moscow of preparing the invasion of its neighbor by deploying tens of thousands of men on its borders. Russia denies any bellicose intention and claims, on the contrary, that NATO withdraws from the neighborhood of Russia. The United States rejected Russian demands on NATO, but left the door open to discussions on other subjects, such as the deployment of missiles or reciprocal limits on military exercises. Russia is now preparing a response to this position.
Consult our file: Boot noises in Ukraine
