SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed the West for escalating tensions in Europe.
Putin told senior military officials that Russia would respond “adequately” to any Western aggression and would develop its army further, according to Reuters.
“Why did they expand NATO and renounce the missile defense treaties? They are blame for what is happening now, for the tensions building up in Europe,” Reuters quoted Putin as saying.
Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine, demanding that NATO refuse to accept the former Soviet republic as a member and guarantee that no weapons or troops will be deployed there.
“Armed conflicts and bloodshed are absolutely not something we would choose, we do not want such a scenario,” Putin was quoted as saying.
He said Russia’s proposals were no ultimatum, but it had nowhere to retreat over Ukraine.
Speaking at the same meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the United States had deployed some 8,000 troops near Russian borders and, alongside NATO allies, frequently mounted flights by strategic bomber planes close to Russia.
Earlier this month, Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden held two hours of virtual talks on Ukraine and other disputes in a video call about U.S.-Russian relations.
Biden said he had made clear to Putin that Russia’s standing in the world would change “markedly” in the event of an incursion into Ukraine, according to Reuters.
“I made it absolutely clear to President Putin … that if he moves on Ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy are going to be devastating, devastating,” Biden told reporters on Saturday.
Biden also said the possibility of sending U.S. ground combat troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion was “never on the table,” Reuters reported.
Relations between the United States and Russia have sunk to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago.
