Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that national security is Moscow’s number one priority, and that Western countries misled Russia by expanding NATO in Eastern Europe despite previous promises.
Answering a question about the security guarantees and the possibility of an "invasion" of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin stressed that the whole situation was created by the West.
“Our actions will depend not on the course of negotiations, but on the unconditional guarantees of Russian national security. We made it clear that NATO's expansion to the east is unacceptable. The US is standing with missiles on our doorstep. How would Americans react if we placed our missiles at the U.S. border with Canada or Mexico?" he asked.
He reiterated that the West should immediately give firm guarantees to Russia instead of just talking about them for decades.
"It is not the course of the negotiations that is important, the result is important. 'Not a single inch to the East', they told us in the nineties. So what? They tricked us. There have been five waves of NATO expansion. Missile systems are appearing in Romania and Poland. Did we come to them? They came to us", the president stressed.
Putin said that the reunification of Crimea with Russia was never on the agenda before the coup in Ukraine. He noted that it was impossible for Russia to deny Crimeans protection after the Ukrainian coup.
"The aggravation began in 2014. What happened then? A coup. A bloody one. People were killed and burned", Putin said. "President Yanukovych agreed with everything, received guarantees from other countries of a peaceful resolution of the situation. How could we refuse Sevastopol and Crimea to take them under our protection?"
The president recalled history, saying in terms of Ukraine "they created a country that included historical Russian territories".
Additionally, the Russian president shared his "impression" that a third military operation is being prepared in Ukraine, and "they are warning Russia not to interfere". "We must react", Putin said.
Russia needs to think about its national security and constantly monitor the events in Ukraine, the president noted.
According to Putin, the main issue is that Kiev is refusing to comply with the Minsk agreements, which, he said, are the only way to resolve the situation in Donbass.
