Asked by a Sky News correspondent what guarantees Russia might provide it would not attack Ukraine or any other sovereign state, the Russian leader said that it was not Russia that created threats to other countries, TASS reported.
"Have we approached the borders of the United States or Britain? They have approached ours. And now they say ‘Ukraine will be a NATO member’. Consequently, there will emerge [their weapon] systems," he explained.
"You are demanding some guarantees from me. But it is you that must provide guarantees. You must do that at once, now, and not keep talking about this for decades," Putin added.
He stressed that Russia was "outrageously deceived" when it was told in the 1990s that NATO would not expand Eastwards.
"’Not an inch towards the East’, we were told in the 1990s. And what? They cheated us. They outrageously deceived us: five waves of NATO’s expansion. Now the corresponding systems are emerging in Romania and Poland," Putin stated.
On December 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry made public two draft agreements on steps to be taken by the United States and NATO to provide legal security guarantees. Earlier, Putin urged NATO to enter into meaningful negotiations on reliable and long-term security guarantees for Russia. He stressed that Moscow needed legal guarantees on paper because previously the Western counterparts had defaulted on the corresponding verbal promises.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media presidential aide Yury Ushakov had notified the US Presidential National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Moscow was prepared to enter into negotiations on draft security treaties at once. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov will represent Russia at the consultations.
Western countries have given no evidence to prove allegations about Russian blogger Alexey Navalny’s possible poisoning, Putin said.
"You speak about a man who was allegedly poisoned. We have issued numerous official inquiries from the Russian prosecutor’s office asking for any documents proving the poisoning. Not a single paper, not a single evidence of this Novichok, or whatever you call it," he stated during his traditional end-of-the-year news conference answering a question from a BBC correspondent.
According to the Russian leader, Moscow suggested sending Russian specialists "there to work together".
"I personally told the French president and the German chancellor: Let our specialists work, let us take sample, check grounds to open a criminal case. Nothing in response. Nothing," he added, describing the contacts on this matter.
"Stop talking about it. Let us turn over this page, if you have nothing to tell us," he noted.
Navalny was rushed to a local hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on August 20, 2020, after collapsing on a Moscow-bound flight from Tomsk. He fell into a coma and was put on a ventilator in an intensive care unit. On August 22, he was airlifted to Berlin and admitted to the Charite hospital. On September 2, the German government claimed that the blogger had been affected by a toxic agent belonging to the Novichok family. Russia’s authorities pointed out that no poisonous substances had been detected in Navalny’s system prior to his transfer to Berlin and repeatedly expressed readiness for all-round cooperation to investigate this case.
Russia and China are jointly developing high-tech weapons as they cooperate in the security area, Putin stated.
"We cooperate [with China] in the security area," he said during his annual news conference, adding, "China’s armed forces are equipped with the most advanced weapons systems to a large extent."
"We are even developing together certain high-tech types of weapons," the president went on to say, noting, "We are working in space, aircraft areas. On planes and helicopters."
The armed forces of the two countries also cooperate, Putin continued.
"It’s joint exercises, participation in joint international war games, joint patrols at sea and in air," he said.
Russia and China have "an absolutely comprehensive partnership of strategic nature", he added.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has found himself under the influence of radical elements after coming to power, Putin said.
"Instead of meeting people’s demand for peace, using this sentiment in Ukrainian society, President Zelensky came to power and <…> found himself under the influence of radical elements, like the country’s previous leaders," he added.
Touching on the political situation in Ukraine, the Russian leader recalled that the Minsk agreements bind Ukraine to amend its constitution to ensure Donbass’ autonomy, organize elections, and conduct amnesty.
"What do we see in the law on the transition period? A military administration instead of elections, lustration instead of amnesty, the return of troops to their permanent positions instead of resolving political matters," Putin noted.
"Where are the constitutional amendments? Notably, they should be agreed with the representatives of the LPR and DPR (the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics). <…> They don’t agree on anything, they initiate no constitutional amendments, moreover, they refuse to speak with Donbass representatives in general," he stated.
Moscow’s further actions will depend not on progress in negotiations with the US on security guarantees, but on real action, taken to ensure Russia’s security, Putin said.
"As for the guarantees [of security] and what will depend on progress in negotiations, our actions will depend not on progress in the talks, but on unconditional measures to ensure Russia’s security today and in the long term," Putin stated in reply to a corresponding question.
In this connection, Putin noted that Russia had made it pretty clear that "NATO’s further expansion to the East is unacceptable".
"Are we planting missiles near US borders? No. It is the United States that has brought its missiles to our doorstep," Putin continued, adding, "Is it an excessive demand - no more attack systems near our home? Is there something unusual about this?"
Putin also wondered how the Americans might react if Russia deployed its missiles in Mexico or Canada on the border with the US.
"Have Mexico and the United States never had any territorial disputes? Whom did California belong to in the past? And how about Texas? Have they forgotten? Nobody recalls all this the way many tend to look at Crimea these days. We, too, have been trying not to recall how today’s Ukraine took shape and who created it - Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union. There was the Union Treaty of 1922 and the Constitution of 1924. The latter was adopted after his death, but in accordance with his principles," Putin noted.
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