Putin: US and allies ignore Russia’s security demands

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the United States and its allies have ignored Russia’s main security demands, but added that Moscow remains open to further talks with the West on how to reduce tensions over Ukraine.

In his first remarks on the standoff with the West over Ukraine in more than a month, Putin said the Kremlin is still studying the US and NATO response to Russian security demands it received last week.

But he said it was clear the West had ignored Russian demands that the military alliance not expand into Ukraine and other former Soviet nations, refrain from deploying offensive weapons near Russia and back off NATO deployments in Eastern Europe.

These calls, considered nonsensical by NATO and Washington, come in the face of fears that Russia could invade Ukraine, fueled by the buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near the borders of the neighboring country. For the moment, talks between Moscow and the West have made no progress.

On Monday, during a heated debate at the UN Security Council, Moscow accused Western powers of “stir up tensions” around Ukraine and pointed out that the United States had put “pure Nazis” in power in Kiev.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russia’s growing military strength along the Ukraine border was “the greatest mobilization” in Europe in recent decades, adding that there was a sharp increase in cyberattacks and disinformation.

Moscow tried in vain to prevent the Security Council meeting, where the harsh exchanges reflected the gulf that separates the two nuclear powers. It was the first open session in which all the protagonists of the Ukrainian crisis spoke publicly, although the most powerful body of the UN did not take action.

More high-level diplomacy is expected in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decreed on Tuesday the addition of 100,000 additional troops to the army, raising the total to 350,000.

Zelenskyy said that he signed “this decree not because there is a war.” “The decree is so that there will be peace soon and later.”