Russian President Vladimir Putin has in his first open comments on the tensions in international relations over the security of Ukraine and Russia’s geopolitical ambitions has said that the US have ignored Moscow’s demands on the future enlargement of NATO and the presence of the alliance in its eastern flank, British news portal The Guardian reports.
In a press conference at the Kremlin on Tuesday, February 1, Putin said to journalists he was unsatisfied with the US response to Russian demands that NATO remove troops and infrastructure from eastern Europe and agree never to accept Ukraine into the alliance.
It’s already clear … that Russia’s principal concerns were ignored,» Putin said after talks with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
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In emotional remarks, Putin also said the west was using Ukraine as a «tool to hinder Russia» and hypothesised that Ukraine’s entrance into NATO could lead to a conflict over Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Putin said he was ready to continue negotiations with the west, which has said it is ready for dialogue, but views Moscow’s demands as being set on issues that at are non-negotiable. Russia has also continued deploying thousands of troops and offensive weapons to the Ukrainian border, appearing to threaten a strike if the Kremlin does not get its way, The Guardian reports.
Putin voices dissatisfaction with rejection of Moscow’s military demands
