On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of crafting a scenario to entice Russia into conflict while ignoring Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine.
Putin, in his first direct public comments on the crisis in nearly six weeks, showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has dismissed as non-starters and a possible pretext for an invasion, which Moscow rejects.
“It’s already clear now… that key Russian concerns were neglected,” Putin said during a news conference with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of several NATO leaders attempting to intervene in the dispute.
Putin outlined a hypothetical scenario in which Ukraine was admitted to NATO and subsequently attempted to reclaim the Crimea peninsula, which Russia had annexed in 2014.
“Assume Ukraine is a NATO member when these military operations began. Is it planned for us to go to war with the NATO alliance? Has anyone considered that possibility? Not at all, it appears “he stated
Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, prompting fears that Putin is contemplating an invasion.
Russia disputes this but has stated that until its security needs are met, it may take unspecified military action. Any invasion, according to Western countries, would result in sanctions against Moscow.
According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Kremlin wants the West to honor a 1999 agreement that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others, which it regards to be at the heart of the conflict.
During a phone chat with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he brought up the Istanbul charter agreed by members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the US and Canada.
While a US report of the call focused on the need for Moscow to step back, Lavrov said Blinken agreed the need to discuss the problem further.
“If President Putin honestly does not want to go to war or alter the system,” a senior State Department official told reporters, “then now is the moment to bring back soldiers and heavy equipment and engage in a serious negotiation.”
If Russia supplies similar information regarding missiles on select Russian facilities, the US is willing to discuss giving the Kremlin a mechanism to verify the absence of Tomahawk cruise missiles at NATO bases in Romania and Poland, Bloomberg said.
The White House and State Department did not immediately react to queries for comment, but a source close to the situation claimed the US had simply offered to discuss a number of Russian concerns including arms control difficulties in the Middle East.
‘INSTRUMENT’
Putin had not spoken publicly on the Ukraine crisis since December 23, leaving mystery regarding his personal views despite several rounds of meetings between Russian and Western diplomats.
His Tuesday words mirrored a worldview in which Russia must protect itself against an aggressive and hostile US. According to Putin, Washington is more interested in limiting Russia than in the security of Ukraine.
“In this sense, Ukraine is really a tool to attain this goal,” he explained.
“They can accomplish this in a variety of ways, including luring us into some kind of armed war and, with the support of their European allies, forcing the imposition of the punitive sanctions they’re talking about today against us.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has frequently clashed with Western European leaders over his country’s democracy, said he believed there was an opportunity for compromise after his conversations with Putin.
“I became persuaded today that the present differences in perspectives can be bridged and that an agreement can be signed that guarantees peace, guarantees Russia’s security, and is acceptable to NATO member states,” Orban said.
GUN TO THE HEAD OF UKRAINE
According to reporters, the US persuaded Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to cancel a visit to Russia with Putin as Western countries race to demonstrate sympathy with Ukraine.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday and accused Putin of holding a gun to Ukraine’s head in order to demand changes to Europe’s security architecture.
“It’s critical that Russia takes a step back and chooses a diplomatic path,” Johnson said. “That, I suppose, is still a possibility. We are eager to engage in conversation, of course, but we are also prepared to impose sanctions, provide military support, and expand our economic cooperation.”
Any Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Johnson, would be a military and humanitarian calamity.
“There are 200,000 men and women in Ukraine who are armed, and they will put up a fierce and brutal fight,” he warned. “I believe that Russian parents and mothers should ponder on this issue, and I sincerely hope that President Putin takes a step back from the path of war and engages us in the discussion.”
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish Prime Minister, who is also in Kyiv, said Poland, would assist Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid.
“We have the impression of living at the foot of a volcano living so close to a neighbor like Russia,” Morawiecki added.
Zelenskiy, who has previously dismissed the possibility of an invasion, has issued a directive to increase his armed forces by 100,000 men over the next three years. He advised lawmakers to maintain their composure and avoid hysteria.
“Not because we will soon have a conflict,” Zelenskiy explained, “but so that there will be peace in Ukraine soon and in the future.”
