RUSSIA – (WARSOOR) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the West to give immediate security guarantees to defuse a crisis prompted by Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine’s borders.
“It’s you who must give us guarantees, and give them immediately, now,” he said in his annual press conference.
Mr Putin has demanded that Nato abandon military activity in Eastern Europe and not admit Ukraine as a member.
He has threatened military measures but denies planning to invade Ukraine.
Ukraine security officials says more than 100,000 Russian troops have been sent close to its borders, and the US has threatened Mr Putin with sanctions “like none he’s ever seen” if Ukraine comes under attack.
The Russian leader said military measures were not his preferred choice and he expressed hope that talks would take place with the US early next year in Geneva, adding: “The ball is in their court, they have to give us some response.”
He has already laid out “red lines” on Ukraine, and he became animated when he was asked on Thursday if he would guarantee that there would be no invasion.
“We didn’t come to the US or UK borders, no, they came to ours,” he said, accusing Nato of cheating Russia with five waves of expansion since the 1990s.
In a list of demands outlined last week, Russia has said it wants Nato to roll back to where it was in 1997, a demand seen as a non-starter for Poland, the Baltics and other Eastern European states that joined the West’s defensive military alliance.