(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin complained to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday about the West’s rejection of his demands for a de-escalation of the conflict over Ukraine and NATO.
Posted at 7:06
Updated at 8:46 a.m.
“The responses of the United States and NATO did not take into account the fundamental concerns of Russia,” the Kremlin said in a statement devoted to the meeting between the two leaders.
“The key question has been ignored, which is how the United States and its allies count […] implement the principle that no one should strengthen their security to the detriment of other countries,” the Russian presidency continued.
According to the Kremlin, Russia will “determine its future reaction” after studying in detail the responses of its rivals.
More than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been massed on the Ukrainian border since the end of 2021, according to estimates by Westerners who fear that an invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s pro-Western neighbor, is imminent.
Russia denies any invasion plans, but feels threatened by NATO’s 20-year expansion and Western support for Ukraine.
It therefore conditioned de-escalation on the end of the policy of enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, in particular to Ukraine, and a return to Western military deployments at the 1997 borders.
But the United States and NATO, unsurprisingly, formally rejected these demands on Wednesday, while proposing negotiations on reciprocal limits on the deployment of the short and medium range missiles of the two rival nuclear powers in Europe as well as on exercises. soldiers on the outskirts of the opposing camp.
Mr. Putin for his part stressed, during the interview with Mr. Macron, that Russia wanted to continue working on the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, opposing Kiev to pro-Russian separatists for eight years.
As such, he insisted on the existing format of talks which brings together Moscow, Kiev, Berlin and Paris.
A meeting of advisers from the leaders of these four countries took place on January 26, the first in months, and another is scheduled for February.