Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (December 21) that Russia has no room for retreat in the confrontation with the United States over the Ukrainian issue. Unless the West abandons its “aggressive route,” it will be forced to make a tough response.
Putin delivered a speech to military officials. Russia urged the United States and NATO to provide an urgent response to the West’s proposal to provide a series of binding security guarantees.
“What the U.S. did in Ukraine is on our doorstep… They should understand that we have nowhere to go. Do they think we can only stand by?” Putin said.
“If the aggressive route of our Western colleagues continues, we will take adequate military-technical countermeasures and respond severely to unfriendly steps.”
Putin did not elaborate on the nature of these measures, but his wording reflects the wording previously used by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who warned that Russia may redeploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe in response to what it believes. The NATO plan is the same.
Missile flight time “reduced to 7 minutes”
“We are very worried about the deployment of elements of the US global missile defense system near Russia. The Mk 41 launcher located in Romania and planned to be deployed in Poland has been adapted to the use of the Tomahawk attack system. If this infrastructure continues to develop, if the United States and NATO missiles The system appears in Ukraine, so their flight time to Moscow will be reduced to seven to ten minutes, and with the deployment of hypersonic weapons, it will be reduced to five minutes. For us, this is the most severe challenge — yes Our security challenge”, Putin said, As quoted on the Kremlin website.
At the same meeting, Secretary of Defense Shoigu stated that the United States has deployed about 8,000 soldiers near the Russian border, and along with NATO allies, they often approach Russia in strategic bombers.
He said that in Germany, the headquarters that existed before 1991 have been rebuilt. “It is responsible for the use of medium-range missiles. A multi-domain brigade has been established and plans to be equipped with various strike missile weapon systems.” Shoigu said.
Regarding Poland, the Russian Defense Minister stated that infrastructure is being built to accommodate an armored brigade in the United States of America. “The creation of the Aegis Ashore anti-missile system is about to be completed. In Romania, a similar missile defense facility is already on alert,” he said.
Shoigu said that NATO’s attempts to involve Ukrainian troops in the alliance’s activities constituted a security threat.
Russia rejected the allegations from Ukraine and the United States that Russia may prepare to invade Ukraine by tens of thousands of Russian troops preparing to be within the border as early as next month.
It said it needs Western commitments — including a commitment not to conduct NATO military activities in Eastern Europe — because Ukraine’s growing relationship with Western alliances and the possibility of NATO’s deployment of missiles on Ukrainian territory threaten its security.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Friday that he is ready to have “direct talks with Russia, tête-à-tête, we don’t mind the format.” But Moscow has repeatedly stated that if it is not clear what the agenda is, it thinks it is meaningless to convene such a meeting.
A statement from the Kremlin stated that Putin emphasized in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron that the reconvening of the four-nation Normandy group composed of leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will require concrete steps from Kiev. To implement the existing peace agreement. Ukraine stated that it was Russia and its agents who refused to contact.
As Western powers are keen to show Russia their firm support for Ukraine and NATO, the new German Chancellor Olaf Schultz also talked with Putin on the phone.
US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken ruled out the possibility of a meeting between Biden and Putin on Tuesday. “I think, first of all, we have to see if there is any progress in diplomacy,” Brinken said at a press conference when asked if there will be a face-to-face summit to ease tensions.
we Supplies
In a briefing with reporters, Karen Donfried, the chief diplomat in charge of European affairs at the U.S. State Department, stated that Washington is ready to engage with Moscow through three channels-bilaterally and through NATO, the last meeting in 2019- The Russian Council, as well as cooperation in security organizations and in Europe.
At the same time, she said that the United States will continue to send military equipment and supplies to Ukraine in the coming weeks and months-which has angered Moscow.
“As President (Joe) Biden told President Putin, if Russia invades Ukraine further, we will provide Ukrainians with additional defensive materials beyond what we have already provided,” she said.
A Biden administration official told Reuters that Washington is considering strict export control measures to disrupt Russia’s economy when Putin invaded Ukraine. These measures will be discussed at a meeting of senior officials on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will seek meaningful discussions with Moscow early next year.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that more than 120 private U.S. military contractors are active in eastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military has been fighting Russian-backed separatists since 2014, and said that they are preparing for chemical matters. “provocative”.
He did not provide evidence to support this claim, and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called it “completely wrong.”
Throughout the crisis, Russia wandered between harsh rhetoric, calls for dialogue, and terrible warnings. Ryabkov repeatedly compared this situation with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
Many of Moscow’s demands, including preventing Ukraine from joining NATO and the withdrawal of the United States and other allied forces from Eastern Europe, were deemed impossible by Washington and its partners.
But rejecting them immediately may close any dialogue space and further exacerbate the crisis.
