The future entry of Ukraine into NATO represents a threat to Russia, and in fact this possibility was one of the causes that led Moscow to make the decision to start the war against the neighboring country. This was stated this Thursday by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in an interview with a local media.
“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 in NATO,” Putin said.
The Russian president also expressed his conviction that NATO membership “will not increase the security of Ukraine itself, It will make the world more vulnerable and lead to additional tensions internationally.”
“That’s why I don’t see anything good in this, the positions are well known and were expressed long ago,” he added.
Putin 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 way 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 talks about Western weapons in Ukraine
The Russian president also said that the missiles supplied to kyiv by its Western allies have not changed the course of the fighting in Ukraine.
“Yes, they do damage, but nothing critical is happening in the combat zones where they have been used. The same goes for foreign-made tanks,” he said.
In this regard, Russia is confident that further Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, including French SCALP long-range missiles, will bring nothing to Ukraine, but will only aggravate the situation.
“From the point of view of a possible change on the battlefield, a new supply of weapons will not give anything, it will only aggravate the situation and aggravate it for the Ukrainian side,” he argued.
In addition, he stated that Western tanks burn better than Soviet ones, and maintained that, since the Ukrainian counteroffensive began in early June, the Russian Army has destroyed at least a hundred Western production vehicles, including German Leopards.
“I can say that the Ukrainian military often refuses even to enter these (Western) tanks because they are a priority target for our guys on the battlefield,” the president told Russia’s Rossia-24 public television.
The president also referred to the agreement on grain exports through the Black Sea and threatened to suspend Russian participation if the Russian part of the deal is not fulfilled.
“We can suspend our participation in that agreement. And if they tell us that everything that was promised to us is fulfilled, let them do it first and then we will join the deal again,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
*With AFP and EFE
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