Russian President sets conditions for negotiations with Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn)- Russian President Vladimir Putin set a condition that if Ukraine wants to start peace negotiations with Russia, Kiev needs to cancel the decree banning negotiations and declare its readiness for dialogue with Moscow.
In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), the Russian leader stressed: "The President of Ukraine has issued a decree banning negotiations with us... How can you negotiate if they don't want to and even if they have issued a document banning these negotiations."
President Putin also cited the US as the reason for the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, which began to draw Kiev into NATO. The Russian leader noted that the country had done everything to pursue a path towards resolving the conflict.
“But no, they were not even allowed to do that. Moreover, the Ukrainian leaders only declared that they did not like the Minsk Agreements and would not implement them,” President Putin added.
He reiterated that Ukraine was founded on the declaration of independence.
"The main point of the declaration of independence is that Ukraine is a neutral country. But no, back in 2008, for some reason, when there was no credit, they announced that Ukraine was welcome to join NATO. Why? Until now, no one understands. And so, from year to year, from year to year, the situation has been getting hotter and hotter," Mr. Putin commented.
He criticized NATO expansion.
"We were told by the then US administration in 1991 that NATO would not be expanded to the east. Then there were five rounds of expansion. And each time we expressed our concerns, each time they told us: yes, we promised you not to expand NATO to the east, but these were verbal promises, but where is the paper with our signature? There is no paper, right? Well, goodbye. You see, it is very difficult to conduct a dialogue with such people," Putin affirmed.
In the same interview, President Putin said that the mistakes in Ukraine in 2014 should be corrected not through militants, but through democratic procedures, but the West carried out military operations through the hands of Kiev.
“The fighting in Ukraine began not with our military operation, but much earlier – in 2014, when the Western countries that acted as guarantors of the agreements between (Ukrainian) President Viktor) Yanukovich and the opposition literally forgot their guarantees just a few days later. Moreover, they fueled the coup d’état (in Ukraine),” he said./.
