President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday (November 18) that the West warned Russia not to underestimate its “red line” and Moscow needs serious security guarantees from the West.
In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech, the Kremlin leader also called the relationship with the United States “unsatisfactory,” but said that Russia is still open to dialogue with Washington.
The Kremlin stated in September that if NATO expands its military infrastructure in Ukraine, it will surpass Russia’s red line. Moscow has since accused Ukraine and NATO of destabilizing behavior, including in the Black Sea.
In a televised speech, Putin complained that Western strategic bombers carrying “very serious weapons” were flying within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the Russian border.
Putin said: “We have been expressing our concerns about this and talking about red lines, but we understand that our partners-how I should put it euphemistically-are very superficial to all our warnings and talking about red lines.”
Putin said that NATO-Moscow severed ties with NATO last month-destroyed all dialogue mechanisms.
He told officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Russia needs to seek long-term guarantees of its security from the West, although he said it was difficult and did not specify what form of guarantees should be adopted.
Russia’s relations with the West have been at a post-Cold War low for many years, but the tone has become sharper in recent weeks as Ukraine and NATO countries have expressed concerns about Russian military moves near the Ukrainian border and tried to guess Moscow’s true intentions. .
However, despite the increasing disputes, the Kremlin maintains high-level contacts with Washington and has repeatedly talked about the possible summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden to follow up their first meeting in Geneva in June. Putin said this has been Open up space in order to improve the relationship.
The Kremlin said that Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan discussed cybersecurity and the immigration crisis on the border between Ukraine and Belarus on the phone on Wednesday.
“All this is preparing for… high-level contacts,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
