Russian President stated that the Kremlin’s demands and “fundamental concerns” over Ukraine have been ignored by NATO and the US. Here’s what’s happening.
Putin on Russia’s demands and NATO
As a part of his first comments about the crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that Moscow has not seen ‘adequate consideration’ on their demands from NATO and the US. Russia is promising to halt its expansion in Europe. However, it is if the US agrees to pull back its missile systems in Eastern Europe. Moscow is also demanding that the US remove itself from Europe’s security order. “NATO refers to the right of countries to choose freely. But, you cannot strengthen someone’s security at the expense of others,” stated Putin. He is also demanding NATO to retract its military alliance back to the “1997 status quo”. This is indicating that about 14 nations have to withdraw from the bloc for meeting the Kremlin’s request. Putin added that they were previously “swindled, basically lied to” about the possibility of NATO’s expansion.
The comments are following the talks between Russia and the US as a new threat of war looms over Ukraine as Russian troops build up at the borders. In a 30 minute long call, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to “immediate Russian de-escalation and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from Ukraine’s borders”. “We’ve been clear that we think the only resolution to this crisis is a diplomatic solution. But diplomacy doesn’t mean we are not preparing for a different outcome that we think would be tragic,” cautioned Blinken. Stressing that if Russia was not going to invade Ukraine, Blinken said that it would be the right time for pulling back the Russian forces from its borders.
More on the issue between Russia and Ukraine
Diplomacy is in progress around Europe as NATO and the US are working to cushion the military alliance. Putin is also hosting Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, a close alley. Additionally, Britan’s PM Boris Johnson met Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President in Kyiv. Moreover, Russian officials denied reports of Moscow sending a written response to the US for de-escalating a Ukraine shutdown.
The Kremlin is seeking legal assurance from both NATO and the US that Ukraine will not join the bloc. Putin also wants the deployment of NATO weapons close to Russian borders to come to a halt. These demands are in addition to the assurance that the alliance’s forces will go back from Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, these demands got denied by the US and NATO.