Russia does not intend to fight with Europe and NATO and is prepared to negotiate with the West on Ukraine based on Moscow’s own interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Speaking at a meeting of the board of the ministry of defense, Putin once more struck a tone of vehement criticism against the U.S., whom it accused of concern over Moscow’s increasing rapprochement with Europe, according to Google-translated comments reported by state news outlet Tass.
Putin has repeatedly put the blame for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine at the feet of the West broadly and the U.S. specifically, painting Kyiv’s NATO membership bid as a threat to Russia.
The Russian head of state went on to stress the positive outcomes of Moscow’s previous appropriation of Ukrainian land in the grander scheme of European politics.
Referencing the events of 2014, Putin said that a “bloodbath” would have taken place if Russia had not annexed the peninsula of Crimea, then part of Ukraine, saying Moscow was the only guarantor of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.