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(The thunder claps of war) Putin: Russia to ‘respond toughly’ to further eastward expansion by NATO
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a Defense Ministry enlarged board meeting in the capital, Moscow, on December 21, 2021. (Photo by TASS news agency)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of military-technical measures and a tough response if NATO expands further toward Russia’s borders as tensions escalate between Washington and Moscow over the situation in Ukraine.
“In case of clearly aggressive policy continued by our Western colleagues, we will take adequate military-technical measures and respond toughly to unfriendly steps,” Putin said at a meeting of top generals on Tuesday. “And, I want to emphasize, we have every right to do so, we have every right to take actions designed to ensure the security and sovereignty of Russia.”
The Russian president said NATO’s decision to expand eastward was a miscalculation driven in part by a sense of “euphoria” after the Cold War.
“Sometimes you wonder why they did it under those circumstances. It’s unclear, I think the reason was euphoria from the victory in the so-called Cold War or the so-called victory in the Cold War. And due to a wrongful, erroneous assessment of the situation at the time and an incompetent, inaccurate analysis of potential further developments,” Putin said. “There simply couldn’t have been any other reasons.”
The Russian leader emphasized the need for immediate talks with the West to come up with a clear, international legal agreements that would prevent NATO’s further expansion east.
The Russian leader blamed the West for the current tensions in Europe and said Moscow had had to respond to recent hostile activities by the US and NATO in the vicinity of its western borders.
“The buildup of US and NATO military forces directly on Russia’s borders, as well as by the holding of large-scale exercises, including unplanned ones, cause serious concern,” Putin said. “We are extremely concerned about the deployment of elements of the US global missile defense system near Russia.”
Putin also said that hopes for a deal with Washington to limit NATO expansion in Eastern Europe were slim, adding that even a signed agreement could be torn up by the American side at a moment’s notice.
Stressing that Russia no longer viewed the West as a dependable partner, the Russian president said Moscow had been seeking written assurances about the presence of US troops and hardware near its borders, but added that even those assurances could not be “trusted.”
“We need long-term, legally binding guarantees. But you and I know them well. And that is something that cannot be trusted,” Putin said, adding that the US “easily withdraws from international treaties that it becomes uninterested in.”
Pointing to the the Russian Foreign Ministry’s confirmation that the White House had signaled its readiness to initiate talks to ease tensions, the Russian president said Moscow hoped for “constructive and meaningful negotiations with a visible result that will ensure equal security for all.”
The Tuesday address came after the Russian Foreign Ministry last week released two draft documents on the provision of legal security guarantees from Washington and NATO, which included the call for a promise that the US-led military alliance would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced on Friday that Washington was prepared for dialog with Moscow over its security demands and would present its own concerns.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, however, said on Monday that Moscow had so far received no response from the United States and said that Russia was ready for a military response if NATO kept ignoring Moscow’s security concerns.
Russia has stressed the need for an urgent response from the United States on its security guarantees regarding the situation around Ukraine.
Russia and the US-led NATO have recently been at odds over Ukraine. Western countries accuse Russia of preparing for an invasion of Ukraine by amassing troops and armaments near the border with that country.
Moscow says it is entitled to move its military freely within its borders and that it is taking precautionary steps because of increased NATO activity near its territory.
President Putin has repeatedly warned the West against crossing the Kremlin’s red lines by staging military exercises in and sending lethal weaponry to Ukraine.
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