President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Russia is prepared to respond with "military and technical measures" to what he called unfriendly actions by the West, as tensions rise over the conflict in Ukraine, and called for negotiations "serious" with NATO on security.
"In the event that this position, which is clearly very aggressive on the part of our Western colleagues, is maintained, we will adopt the military and technical measures that are appropriate."he said during a meeting at the Defense Ministry, at a time when fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are growing.
"We absolutely have the right", he stressed.
"The reinforcement of the US and NATO military groups on the Russian borders, as well as the organization of wide-ranging military exercises, are a serious source of concern."Putin continued, at a time when the West accuses the Kremlin of having deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to the border with Ukraine in preparation for an offensive.
The Russian president once again highlighted the need, in his understanding, for the United States and NATO to provide security guarantees to Russia by signing treaties that prohibit the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance.
Later, in his first telephone conversation with the new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on this same day, Putin called for negotiations "serious" with NATO on the proposals for security guarantees demanded by Moscow.
Putin provided Scholz "detailed feedback" on those proposals presented by Russia last week to Washington and its NATO allies, and "expressed the hope that serious negotiations would take place on all issues raised by the Russian side"the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Russian president had already made such legal demands on his American counterpart, Joe Biden, during a video conference in early December.
– "Provocations" in Ukraine –
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused Washington of preparing "provocations" in Ukraine, which includes shipping "an indeterminate chemical compound" it was at the front where the conflict is being fought between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
According to him, 120 members of private military companies are also in the region to train "Ukrainian special forces and radical groups in combat actions".
The Nordic countries, Russia’s neighbors, in turn expressed through a joint document their "huge concern" for the Russian military mobilization at the gates of Ukraine.
So did the German Chancellor during the telephone conversation with the Russian leader. Furthermore, Scholz pointed out to Putin the "urgent need for a de-escalation", according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
US Deputy Secretary of State for Europe Karen Donfried said Tuesday that she expects the dialogue on Ukraine and security in Europe to begin in January, while warning Moscow that some of its requirements are "unacceptable".
He also stressed that eventually those talks will have to include their European and NATO allies, while the Russians seem to want only a face-to-face meeting with the United States.
"My impression is that during January you will be able to see movements in all these directions."Donfried added.
Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and is suspected of supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed nearly 13,000 since 2014. It also easily beat Georgia in 2008.
The West refuses to close the NATO door on these two countries, but they have frozen "de facto" your adhesion processes.
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