Moscow, (BLAZETRENDS) Today Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Regarding Ukraine’s entry into NATO, we have repeatedly stated that this creates threats to Russia’s security, it is clear. And, in fact, one of the causes of the special military operation is the threat of Ukraine’s entry into NATO,” Putin said in statements to Russian public television.
The Russian president expressed his conviction that NATO membership “will not increase the security of Ukraine itself, will make the world more vulnerable and will lead to additional tensions at the international level.”
“That’s why I don’t see anything good in this, the positions are well known and were expressed a long time ago,” he added.
He noted that Moscow is not against discussing security guarantees for Ukraine, “but with mandatory security guarantees for Russia.”
“Any country has the right to guarantee its security, and of course, it has the right to choose the path to achieve this objective that it considers most correct,” he said.
However, he qualified that “there is only one limitation, which is related to the fact that by guaranteeing the security of a country, threats should not be generated for another country.”
“For this reason, we start from the understanding that this principle, declared on multiple occasions in various international documents, will be taken into account,” he said.
Putin recalled that last April the Istanbul draft agreement to end the war was “thrown into the dustbin by the Kiev regime despite the fact that issues related to Ukraine’s security were expressed in great detail in it.” .
“We would still have to think if we agree with everything that was expressed there, but I consider that in general terms it was an acceptable document,” he said, noting that Russia is not against discussing security guarantees.