The North Atlantic Alliance is pursuing a clearly confrontational policy towards the Russian Federation, and this is regrettable in Moscow, since the Russian side does not seek a conflict with anyone else.
This statement was made by Vladimir Putin during a press conference following talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“The expulsion of our diplomats, which ultimately led to the fact that we closed the corresponding NATO structure in Moscow, suggests that the structure is disposed towards us, to put it mildly, unfriendly.
In addition, it declares Russia to be its adversary, ”the president explained.
According to Putin, NATO's eastward expansion (including at the expense of Ukraine) is a very sensitive topic for Moscow, which he, in particular, discussed during negotiations with his American counterpart Joe Biden.
“This is one of the key issues of ensuring Russia's security in the medium and even strategic perspective.
We are talking about this constantly, publicly, we warn our partners that this is unacceptable for us, ”the president emphasized.
“Of course, each country has the right to choose the most acceptable way of ensuring security, but this should be done in such a way as not to violate the interests of other parties and not to undermine the interests of other countries - in this case, Russia,” he explained.
Responding to a request from journalists to comment on the thesis about an allegedly impending "attack" by Russia on Ukraine - this topic has been actively discussed in the Western media and politicians over the past month - Putin called the issue a provocative one.
“Russia is pursuing a peaceful foreign policy, but it has the right to ensure its security, as I said, in the medium or longer term.
And we are discussing this with our partners, with all our partners, ”Putin said.
He stated that the prospect of Ukraine's joining NATO cannot but worry Moscow, since this step will be followed by the deployment of military contingents, bases and weapons threatening Russia on the territory of the country.
“How can we not think about it?
It would be just a criminal inaction on our part - to limp to watch what is happening there.
This is the subject of our negotiations, the President added.
- We agreed that we will create an appropriate structure that will be able to deal with this substantively, in detail, and present appropriate proposals.
I must say that this idea was formulated by the President of the United States - I agreed with it and said that in the near future we will present our views, our proposals on this matter. "
Putin on NATO: "The structure is disposed towards us, to put it mildly, unfriendly"
Prospects for the Russia-NATO meeting
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said he expects to announce a high-level meeting by December 10 with the participation of representatives from Russia and "at least four" NATO countries besides the United States.
It is expected that these talks will discuss the concerns expressed by Vladimir Putin regarding the expansion of the military bloc to the east and the prospects for reducing tensions in the region.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price later added that details of the consultations with the participation of Russia and NATO countries would become known later.
In addition, during a conversation with reporters on December 8, Biden said that the United States is now not considering the possibility of using armed forces unilaterally to counter Russia because of the situation in Ukraine.
Later, the press service of the White House added that the president would discuss the situation with Vladimir Zelensky, and then with the countries of the "Bucharest Nine" (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Estonia)
Online Summit
We will remind, Putin and Biden had a conversation on a closed video link on December 7.
The leaders talked for a little over two hours.
According to the Kremlin, the Ukrainian issue and the lack of progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements have taken a "predominant place" in the negotiations.
In particular, Vladimir Putin expressed concern about the "destructive line of Kiev", pointing out to the American leader concrete examples of such behavior of the Ukrainian side.
He also warned against attempts to shift responsibility for the "threatening" from the US point of view, the movement of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, noting that it was NATO that was the first to undertake "dangerous attempts to conquer Ukrainian territory and build up its military potential" near the borders of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the Russian president stressed that Moscow is "seriously interested in obtaining reliable, legally fixed guarantees that exclude the expansion of NATO and the deployment of offensive strike weapons systems in states adjacent to Russia."
Foreign Ministry on US and NATO military activity
Against this background, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia reserves the right to respond to dangerous activities by the United States and NATO member countries along the perimeter of Russian borders, including military aircraft flights and dangerous maneuvers by naval ships.
The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, said that Russia is calling for "a substantive dialogue on security guarantees and the discussion of ways to reduce military-political tensions."
“Otherwise, all the means at our disposal will be used to prevent and eliminate emerging threats,” Zakharova said in a statement.