Vladimir Putin says the West has 'ignored' Russia's key concerns over Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his government was studying the responses of the United States and NATO to its protectionist demands regarding Ukraine, but that it was clear that the Kremlin's main allegations had been "ignored."
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| Vladimir Putin says the West has 'ignored' Russia's key concerns over Ukraine |
For weeks, Putin has said little about the crisis caused by the deployment of thousands of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border, which has raised fears of a possible attack.
But Putin told a news conference on Tuesday after a five-hour meeting in Moscow with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that "it is already clear - I told the prime minister - that Russia's fundamental concerns have been ignored. We have not seen enough of our three basic needs."
Putin added that Russia "did not consider sufficient consideration of our three main demands for NATO expansion, abandonment of the deployment of strike weapons near Russia's borders, and return of military infrastructure to the [NATO] bloc's state in Europe in 1997, when the Russia-NATO establishment law was signed." "
Putin has also accused the United States of trying to "pull us into armed conflict" over the Ukraine crisis by using it as a "tool" for NATO operations. He claims that Washington's main goal is to "force Europe's allies to impose tough sanctions on us" or "pull Ukraine into NATO."
The United States and NATO have said Putin's demands - including a promise never to be extended to countries including Ukraine - violate NATO's open door policy and not start negotiations.
Putin did not propose a solution on Tuesday, but said he was open to further discussions.
"I hope this dialogue continues," he said. "I hope we find this solution in the end, although it is not an easy one, and we are aware of it. But what it will be, I am not ready to say today." "
Putin ended the press conference with a brief speech on what he described as a history of NATO deception, claiming that the alliance had promised to extend "not an inch" to the east. "They said one thing, they did another," Putin said. "As people say, they dispersed us, well they cheated on us."
Russian officials have repeatedly made this claim in the past; The United States and NATO have denied the allegations.
Putin has also reiterated his opposition to Ukraine's possible accession to NATO, saying Kyiv is trying to reclaim Crimea - Ukraine's territory annexed by Russia in 2014 - by military force, potentially leading the alliance to open conflict with Russia.
"This [Crimea] is a sovereign Russian territory, the question is closed to us," he said. "Let's imagine that Ukraine is a NATO country and launches this military operation. So, should we fight against the NATO bloc? So, does anyone think about it? It doesn't seem like it."
Diplomats from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, NATO, and the European Union have been busy in recent weeks.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Tuesday. Following the call, a senior State Department official said Lavrov had given no indication that Moscow would ease tensions along the Ukrainian border.
Blinken told Lavrov that if Putin "does not want war or regime change," it is time to withdraw troops and heavy weapons and engage in serious, diplomatic talks, the official said.
Lavrov responded that the US-claimed excess was not happening, the official said, but that it had only withdrawn troops within Russia's own borders.
U.S. State Department officials confirmed Monday that they had "received a written follow-up from Russia" on a document sent to the Kremlin last week on how to defuse tensions in response to Russia's demands and pave the way for further security talks.
On Tuesday, however, the Kremlin said Russia had not yet sent its "original response" to the United States. "There was a mix," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call. "This [Russian correspondence] has considered a different matter. The original answer on this matter has not been handed over, it is still being prepared."
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Johnson accused Russia of "keeping a gun to Ukraine" and warned that a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia would be a "political" and "humanitarian catastrophe."
"In the face of President Putin's demands to act in the interests of the people of Ukraine, the potential attack has completely vanished," Johnson said.
Zelensky said that if war broke out between Russia and Ukraine it would be a "great war in Europe" and added that "no territory or city in Ukraine will be occupied ... but an attack would be a bloody tragedy. The beginning of our country."
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