From News Nation:
“Putin says US, NATO ignored
security demands on Ukraine crisis”
Russian President Vladimir Putin
said Tuesday that the U.S. and its allies have ignored Russia’s top security
demands but added that Moscow is still open for more talks with the West on easing
soaring tensions over Ukraine. Putin argued that it’s possible to negotiate an
end to the standoff if the interests of all parties, including Russia’s
security concerns, are taken into account. He deplored the Western refusal to
consider the Kremlin’s demands for guarantees that NATO won’t expand to
Ukraine, won’t deploy weapons near the Russian border and will roll back its
forces from Eastern Europe.
The demands, rejected by NATO and
the U.S. as nonstarters, come amid fears that Russia might invade Ukraine,
fueled by the buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine’s
borders. Talks between Russia and the West have so far failed to yield any
progress. The Russian leader charged that the Western allies’ refusal to heed
the Russian demands violates their obligations on integrity of security for all
nations and insisted that a solution could be found through more talks. He
warned that Ukraine’s addition to NATO could lead to a situation where
Ukrainian authorities launch a military action to reclaim control over Crimea
or areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east. “Imagine
that Ukraine becomes a NATO member and launches those military operations,”
Putin said. “Should we fight NATO then? Has anyone thought about it?”
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean
Peninsula in 2014 following the ouster of the country’s Moscow-friendly
president and later threw its weight behind rebels in Ukraine’s eastern
industrial heartland, triggering a conflict that has killed over 14,000. Speaking
after talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban in the Kremlin, Putin
emphasized that it’s still possible to find a settlement that would take every
party’s concerns into account. He said that French President Emmanuel Macron
may soon visit Moscow as part of renewed diplomatic efforts following their
call on Monday. Orban, who has forged close ties with Putin, putting NATO
member Hungary in a unique position, stressed that no European leader wants a
war in the region and voiced hope for a settlement. The Hungarian leader has
avoided taking a definitive stance on the buildup of Russian troops along
Ukraine’s borders, and some of his opponents at home criticized his trip to
Moscow as a betrayal of Hungary’s interests and Western alliances.
In a bid to exert pressure on the
West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sent letters to the U.S. and
other Western counterparts to seek their explanations about past obligations
signed by all members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, a top trans-Atlantic security grouping. Russia has argued that NATO’s
expansion eastward has hurt Russia’s security, violating the principle of
“indivisibility of security” endorsed by the OSCE in 1999 and 2010.b Lavrov
charged Tuesday that the U.S. and its allies have ignored the principle that
the security of one nation should not be strengthened at the expense of others,
while insisting on every nation’s right to choose alliances, noting that he
again raised the issue in a phone call Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken. “We will insist on a frank conversation about why the West
doesn’t want to fulfill its obligations,” Lavrov said in televised remarks. “We
will not allow to hush it up.”
Blinken, meanwhile, emphasized
“the U.S. willingness, bilaterally and together with Allies and partners, to
continue a substantive exchange with Russia on mutual security concerns.” State
Department spokesman Ned Price noted that Blinken also “further reiterated the
U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as
the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and
alliances.” Blinken also “urged immediate Russian de-escalation and the
withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine’s borders,” Price said. He
reaffirmed that “further invasion of Ukraine would be met with swift and severe
consequences and urged Russia to pursue a diplomatic path.” Senior State
Department officials described the call as professional and “fairly candid,”
noting that Lavrov restated Russia’ insistence that it has no plans to invade
Ukraine and Blinken replied that if Putin didn’t really intend to invade
Ukraine, Russia should withdraw its troops. The top diplomats agreed that the
next step would be for Russia to submit its response to the U.S. and to speak
again. Lavrov said Russia’s foreign and defense ministries are still working on
its response, which will be sent to Putin for review before it is transmitted
to Washington. Shortly after speaking to Lavrov, Blinken convened a conference
call with the secretary general of NATO, the EU foreign policy chief and the
chairman-in-office of the OSCE as part of efforts to ensure that the allies are
engaged in any further contacts with Russia.
High-level diplomacy continued
Tuesday, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arriving in Kyiv for
scheduled talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Polish Prime
Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Kyiv in a show of support, promising to
deliver more weapons to Ukraine including portable air defense systems, drones,
mortars and ammunition. He noted that Russia’s neighbors feel like they are
living “next to a volcano.” Morawiecki criticized Germany for considering the
certification of the newly-built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would carry
Russian natural gas to German consumers bypassing transit countries Ukraine and
Poland. “You can’t express solidarity with Ukraine while also working to
certify the Nord Stream 2,” the Polish prime minister said. “By allowing the
pipeline’s launch, Berlin would hand Putin a gun he could then use to blackmail
the entire of Europe.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would forge a new trilateral political alliance with Britain and Poland, hailing it as a reflection of strong international support for Ukraine. The Ukrainian president signed a decree on Tuesday expanding the country’s army by 100,000 troops, bringing the total number to 350,000 in the next three years, and raising army wages. Zelenskyy, who in recent days sought to calm the nation in the wake of fears of an imminent invasion, said Tuesday that he signed “this decree not because of a war.” “This decree is so that there is peace soon and further down the line,” the president said. The decree ended conscription starting from Jan. 1, 2024, and outlined plans to hire 100,000 troops over the next three years.
^ Sadly, Putin's delusions are
getting worse. He continues to blame others when it is he and Russia who are
the aggressors. He says NATO allowing Eastern European countries (including
Former Soviet Republics) to join back in 1999 and 2004 have destabilized everything
and is an imminent threat to Russia 18 and 23 years after the fact.
We didn't attack Russia back in
2014 when they illegally invaded and occupied Crimea and Donbas Ukraine so the
only threat in Europe is solely by Putin and Russia.
They say Hitler and Stalin went
mad and saw things that weren't there during their Dictatorships and Putin is
in his 22nd year of his Dictatorship so that could be what is happening here.
Sadly, innocent Ukrainian Men,
Women and Children are the only victims in all of this. ^
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