Putin: Russia “never threatened” European states. Accuses the West of justifying its “exorbitant” military spending
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that “Russia has never threatened and does not threaten European states”, after they accused Moscow of being responsible for the crash of a drone over a block of flats in Galati, reports AFP, according to Agerpres.
“All they are doing is just continuing the confrontation with Russia and thus justifying exorbitant expenditures from their state budgets, taking from the taxpayers' pockets,” the Russian president said of European states supporting Ukraine in its war with his country, speaking at a press conference in Kazakhstan.
As for this war, he said it was “impossible” to advance a concrete term for an end to the fighting, after being asked about one of his recent statements in which he said the war in Ukraine was “coming to an end”.
“Giving precise deadlines while the fighting continues is impossible. It is not only imprudent, but this is practically never done,” the Kremlin leader explained, according to the EFE agency.
Referring back to his earlier statement, he now claimed it was an interpretation of the “battlefield situation”, where “our troops are advancing there in every direction, every day”.
On the other hand, Putin confirmed that the negotiations on ending the war are currently “on hiatus”, but assured that some contacts with American mediators continue. “There are certain contacts, I don't hide this (…), but there are no actual negotiations,” the Russian president noted.
However, he insisted that Russia is ready to resume the negotiation process. “We are ready. We have never refused to negotiate. We did not stop the negotiations. We are willing to listen to the proposals,” Putin added.
The latest round of US-brokered Russian-Ukrainian talks took place on February 17-18 in Geneva and ended without progress, apart from further prisoner exchanges and addressing ways to verify a ceasefire once a peace deal is reached, a prospect that remains remote.
According to diplomatic sources, the talks were very tense and Russia did not give in to its demands, in particular that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas to it, i.e. a territory of approximately 20% of Donetsk province still under the control of the Ukrainian army and what would have remained under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province, whose full occupation has meanwhile been claimed by Russia.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy still refuses to politically assume such a territorial cession and demands that any such decision be validated by a referendum, which he claims will a priori reject the cession of Donbass.
