Putin says Russia has ‘diverse’ options if West refuses security guarantees on Ukraine
- Moscow has submitted draft security documents demanding that Nato deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries
- The president voiced concern that the US and its allies could use the move as a cover to pursue a military build-up near Russia
Putin has urged the West to move quickly to meet the demands, warning that Moscow will have to take “adequate military-technical measures” if the global powers continue its “aggressive” course “on the threshold of our home.”
Asked to specify what such Moscow’s response could be, he said in comments aired by Russian state TV on Sunday that “it could be diverse,” adding without elaboration that “it will depend on what proposals our military experts submit to me.”
Putin said the talks with the US will be held in Geneva. In parallel, negotiations are also set to be held between Russia and Nato and broader discussions are expected under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“We didn’t do it just to see it blocked … but for the purpose of reaching a negotiated diplomatic result that would be fixed in legally binding documents,” Putin said.
He reaffirmed that Nato membership for Ukraine or the deployment of alliance weapons there is a red line for Moscow that it wouldn’t allow the West to cross.
“We have nowhere to retreat,” he said, adding that Nato could deploy missiles in Ukraine that would take just four or five minutes to reach Moscow. “They have pushed us to a line that we can’t cross. They have taken it to the point where we simply must tell them; ‘Stop!’”
He voiced concern that the US and its allies could try to drag out the security talks and use them as a cover to pursue a military build-up near Russia.
He noted that Russia published its security demands to make them known to the public and raise the pressure on the US and its partners to negotiate a security deal.
“We have just one goal – to reach agreements that would ensure the security of Russia and its citizens now and in a long-term perspective,” he said.
Russia has denied an intention of launching an invasion and, in its turn, accused Ukraine of hatching plans to try to reclaim control of the territories held by Moscow-backed rebels by force. Kyiv has rejected the claim.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and soon after threw its support behind a separatist rebellion in the country’s east. Over more than seven years, the fighting has killed over 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.