(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Wednesday to push back Ukrainian forces to reduce the threat of attacks on his territory, as he met with activists during his campaign ahead of the presidential election of March which he is almost certain to win.
Asked about plans for a military campaign in Ukraine, Mr. Putin said the line of contact must be pushed back to “such a distance from our territory that it will protect it from long-range artillery provided by the the West and which the Ukrainian authorities use to bomb peaceful cities. »
He added that this is exactly what the Russian army is doing, “pushing the enemy back from important population centers.”
“This is the main motivation of our men who fight and risk their lives there: to protect the homeland, to protect our people,” he added.
Ukraine has recently struck inside Russia, including a Dec. 30 attack on the border town of Belgorod that killed 25 people and injured more than 100.
According to Vladimir Putin, Russian investigators concluded that Ukraine used U.S.-supplied Patriot air defense systems to shoot down a Russian military transport plane in the Belgorod region on January 24. Russian authorities said the crash killed all 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war en route to an exchange.
Ukrainian authorities did not deny the destruction of the plane, but did not take responsibility for it and called for an international investigation.
Mr. Putin said Russia would not only welcome, but “insist” on an international investigation into what he described as a “crime” perpetrated by Ukraine.
The 71-year-old Russian president is running as an independent candidate and is relying on the tight control of the political system he established during his 24 years in power.
While his major opponents are imprisoned or living abroad and most independent media have been banned, his re-election in the presidential election scheduled for March 15-17 is virtually assured.
“Russia was forced to defend its interests, including by military means,” Mr. Putin said during the meeting with his campaign team, saying that even as the meeting was taking place, Russian troops had realized further progress on the outskirts of the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.
“We are going through a very difficult and important period for the development of our country, the strengthening of its independence and sovereignty in all areas,” he added.
Under a constitutional reform he designed, Vladimir Putin is eligible to run for two additional six-year terms, potentially allowing him to stay in power until 2036. He is already the president who has led the country the longest longest since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who died in 1953.
Three other candidates nominated by parties represented in Parliament are also in the running: Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, Leonid Sloutsky of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and Vladislav Davankov of the New People’s Party.
All three parties have largely supported the Kremlin’s policies. Nikolai Kharitonov ran against Putin in 2004, finishing far behind.
An MP from a town near Moscow, Boris Nadezhdine, 60, is also seeking to run. He openly called for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and the opening of a dialogue with the West.
Thousands of Russians across the country have signed petitions in support of Boris Nadezhdin’s candidacy, an unusual show of sympathy for the opposition in a tightly controlled political landscape. On Wednesday, the latter submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission, which is expected to examine them in the coming days.