Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Saturday that Russia would regard as co-belligerent any country attempting to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a claim by Kiev that NATO has rejected, and asserted that the sanctions imposed on his country amounted to “a declaration of war”.
“We hear that it would be necessary to establish a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory. But it is impossible to do this from Ukrainian territory, it is only possible to do it from the territory of neighboring countries,” Putin said during a meeting with employees of Russian airlines.
But any measure in this direction would be considered by Moscow “as participation in the armed conflict of any country” whose territory would be used to “create a threat to our military”, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday sharply criticized NATO’s refusal to implement a no-fly zone in Ukraine to neutralize Russia’s vastly superior capabilities in the air.
Western countries refuse to accede to this request, which is complex to implement, on the grounds that this would entail a significant risk of direct conflict with Russia, whose soldiers have been intervening in Ukraine since February 24.
But they imposed a series of heavy sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
“A lot of things that are happening right now […] and which we are facing, these are means of waging a struggle against Russia. These sanctions which are put in place, it is akin to a declaration of war, ”said Vladimir Putin.
“But thank God we haven’t come to that yet,” he added.