Ukraine crisis: Putin says NATO has ignored Russia’s biggest concerns | Ukraine-Russia Problems Issues

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the United States and NATO have not responded to Moscow’s security demands. differences between Ukraine but that he was ready to continue speaking.

Putin gave his first response to a US and NATO responses to Russia’s demands over the phone by French President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of silence in public over the growing crisis.

The Kremlin quoted Putin as saying to Macron that he would study the answers given by Washington and NATO this week before making any further decisions.

“Interest was drawn that the US and NATO responses did not take into account Russia’s implications,” the Kremlin said in an interview with Putin and Macron.

It cited concerns such as preventing NATO’s growth, deploying weapons near Russia’s borders and restoring NATO’s “military and military power” to the former Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe. It also wants assurances that Ukraine will be banned from joining NATO.

“The crucial question has not been overlooked – the way the United States and its allies want to adhere to the principle of national security … that no one should strengthen their security by undermining the security of another country,” the Kremlin said.

A French leader said Putin had insisted he did not want things to go wrong, echoing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s assertion that Moscow did not want a war.

The comments came after US President Joe Biden on Thursday warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was imminent.

‘We do not want to be afraid’

For him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the “foreign feeling” that the war had already begun, saying that Russia’s approach was imminent even though a war of attrition was possible.

In a phone call yesterday, US President Joe Biden warned Zelenskyy of “a different possibility”That Russia could take part in the war against Ukraine.

“We do not need this fear,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv.

I do not now see how difficult things are. There is a feeling out there that there is war here. it is not.”

He also called on Russia to show that it has no intention of taking over Ukraine.

“They say this openly, in various media, from different authorities – so that they can show other ways to prove it,” Zelenskyy said.

Kimberly Halkett of Al Jazeera, from Washington, DC, said it was clear Zelenskyy wanted to “resume a discussion that seemed to take her life”.

“It seems he is trying to fix what is going on,” he added. “What we are hearing from the US and President Joe Biden is that the threat is imminent, but from the President of Ukraine is that it will not happen as Washington says.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, stood at a press conference after a four-person conference in Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on December 9, 2019. [File: Bloomberg]

Electrical equipment

Lavrov said Moscow does not want war but does not allow Russia’s interests to be “brutally suppressed and ignored”.

“If it depends on Russia, there will be no war. We do not want war,” he told Russian radio stations.

Lavrov is expected to meet again with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the next few weeks. Their last meeting, in Geneva on January 21, did not bring any success.

He said, without further ado, that anti-US was better than NATO.

The US secretary general said Washington had received Lavrov’s comments saying Russia did not want a war, adding “we must see that it is supported and acted quickly”.

The US and the European Union have warned Russia of impending economic sanctions if it invades Ukraine.

This could be in addition to the sanctions imposed on Russia since it invaded Crimea and aided the separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, although there are divisions between Western countries in which to respond as Europe is dependent on Russia for electricity.

Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, head of the EU, said they had agreed to work together to ensure a stronger security in Europe but did not elaborate.

The EU currently relies on Russia for about a third of the world’s gas and there are fears that the Kremlin could use its power as a base.

EU officials have repeatedly called for unity in the bloc in Ukraine, while others are concerned that Germany – which has complained about nuclear power – has not acted decisively.

Speaking down the prospect of war

Late Friday, US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin warned Russia that “there is a time and a place for dialogue”.

“There is no reason why this should cause controversy,” he said.

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley also urged Russia to “stand up and implement the decision through negotiations”.

“The military should always be the last resort. The success here is negotiation,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said that while it was clear that the US was talking about the prospect of war, he was not saying it was possible.

“The US continues to say ‘yes, there may be a diplomatic response to this’ – to the point that there is a possibility of a meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin,” he said in a statement from Washington. DC. “It is also clear in warning the Russian people to respond if NATO demands an air force.”