Vladimir Putin gets Iran’s backing as US says Russia plans to annex more of Ukraine
- Russian president met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran in the face of Western pressure over the war in Ukraine
- White House official said US intelligence suggests Russia is laying groundwork to annex Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory
Russian President Vladimir Putin won staunch support from Iran for his country’s military campaign in Ukraine, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying the West opposes an “independent and strong” Russia.
Khamenei said that if Russia hadn’t sent troops into Ukraine, it would have faced an attack from Nato later, a statement that echoed Putin’s own rhetoric and reflected increasingly close ties between Moscow and Tehran as they both face crippling Western sanctions.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation” to ensure its own security. Nato allies have bolstered their military presence in Eastern Europe and provided Ukraine with weapons to help counter the Russian attack.
“If the road would have been open to Nato, it will not recognise any limit and boundary,” Khamenei told Putin on Tuesday. Had Moscow not acted first, he added, the Western alliance “would have waged a war” to return the Crimean Peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 back to Kyiv’s control.
In only his second trip abroad since Russia launched the military action in February, Putin conferred with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the conflict in Syria, and he used the trip to discuss a UN-backed proposal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the global food crisis.
The meeting with Erdogan was Putin’s first in-person meeting with a Nato leader since Russian troops invaded - and was a pointed message to the West about Russian plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India to help offset Western sanctions.
‘Peace on our terms’: Russia keeps up bombardment of Ukraine’s cities
Putin, speaking to reporters in televised comments after the visit to Iran, said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were offering to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin, asked about a possible meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv had not stuck to the terms of a preliminary peace deal he said had been “practically achieved” in March, without elaborating.
“The final result of course … depends on the willingness of the contracting parties to implement the agreements that were reached. Today we see the powers in Kyiv have no such desire.”
Negotiations took place in March, with both sides making proposals but without a breakthrough. At the time, Zelensky said only a concrete result from the talks could be trusted.
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government to Putin’s remarks.
In Washington, the White House said that Russia was laying the groundwork for the annexation of Ukrainian territory and is installing illegitimate proxy officials in areas there under its control as it seeks to exert total control over its gains in the east.
02:09
Iran unveils naval drone division as Biden seeks stronger ties in Middle East
Unveiling what he said was US intelligence, John Kirby, the chief National Security Council spokesman, said that the Russians were preparing to install proxy officials, establish the rouble as the default currency and force residents to apply for citizenship.
“We have information today, including from downgraded intelligence that we’re able to share with you, about how Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Kirby said.
The same tactic was used in 2014 when Russia announced its annexation of Crimea after taking over control from Ukraine, Kirby said. The international community considers Crimea’s annexation illegitimate.
Putin warns EU that gas supplies could keep dwindling
“We want to make it plain to the American people,” Kirby said. “Nobody is fooled by it. (Russian President Vladimir Putin) is dusting off the playbook from 2014.”
Russia is now also attempting to take control of broadcasting towers, he said.
At the same time, Kirby said the United States in the next few days will announce a new weapons package for Ukraine as it engages Russia in fierce battles in eastern Ukraine.
It will be the 16th such drawdown of money approved by Congress and allocated under presidential authority, he said.
The package is expected to include US mobile rocket launchers, known as HIMARS, and rounds for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as well as artillery munitions.
The Russian embassy in the United States dismissed Washington’s comments as “fundamentally false”.
‘Judgment Day’ warning as Russia hunts Ukraine’s US-made weapons
“To date, more than 45 thousand tonnes of humanitarian cargo have been sent to Ukraine, the DPR and the LPR. How does all this relate to the concept of annexation?” it said in a Facebook post, referring to the Russian-backed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The United States has provided US$8 billion in security assistance since the war began, including $2.2 billion in the last month.
Washington will impose sanctions on officials involved in representing themselves as proxy officials, Kirby said. He predicted these proxies to try to hold “sham referenda” seeking to legitimatise Russian control.
Associated Press and Reuters
