Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin On Sunday it said it would consider several options if the West fails to meet its pressure for security guarantees to prevent NATO expansion. Ukraine,
Earlier this month, Moscow submitted draft security documents calling for NATO to deny membership of Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and withdraw its military deployments to Central and Eastern Europe.
Putin has urged the West to move swiftly to meet demands, warning that Moscow will have to take “substantial military-technical measures” if the West continues its “aggressive” course on the threshold of our home. .
Asked to specify what Moscow’s response might be, he said in comments broadcast by Russian state TV on Sunday that “it could be varied,” adding without elaboration that “it depends on Will do what our military experts offer me.”
Citing NATO doctrine, the US and its allies have refused to give Russia the kind of guarantees on Ukraine that Putin wants membership open to any eligible country. They agree. However, to begin security talks with Russia next month to discuss its concerns.
Putin said talks with the US would be held in Geneva. In parallel, talks are also scheduled to take place between Russia and NATO and wider discussions are expected under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In remarks broadcast on Sunday, Putin said Russia submitted demands hoping for a positive response from the West.
“We did it not only to see the blocking … but for the purpose of reaching a diplomatic outcome of a negotiation that would be settled in legally binding documents,” Putin said.
The Kremlin presented its security demands in recent weeks amid tensions over the creation of a Russian army near Ukraine that have fueled Western fears of a possible invasion. US President Joe Biden warned Putin in a video call earlier this month of “serious consequences” if Russia attacked Ukraine.
Russia has denied intention to launch an invasion and, in turn, accused Ukraine of planning to try to gain control of areas occupied by force by Moscow-backed rebels. Ukraine has rejected the claim.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and shortly thereafter lent its support to a separatist insurgency in the country’s east. In more than seven years, the fighting has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial region, known as the Donbass.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.
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