Vladimir Putin says the US is trying to drag Russia into war

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Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of seeking to rein in Russia by dragging it into a conflict over Ukraine, while insisting he wants talks with Washington and NATO to continue to avoid “negative outcomes” such as war.

In his first public comment in several weeks since the United States warned that Moscow was massing more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, the Russian president said Ukraine was being used as a “tool” by Washington.

“The United States is not much interested in the security of Ukraine – although they are probably thinking about it somewhere in the background – but their most important goal is to contain the development in Russia. That is all,” Putin said during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow. in the matter”.

“This can be achieved in different ways. [They can] They drag us into some kind of armed conflict and, with the help of their allies in Europe, impose on us the very severe sanctions that the United States is talking about today.”

He again accused Western powers of ignoring Russia’s security concerns and said the United States and NATO had ignored his demand to ensure Kiev did not join the transatlantic alliance.

“Let’s imagine Ukraine [becomes] NATO member begins these military operations. Are we supposed to go to war with the NATO bloc? Has anyone thought about that? Putin apparently said no.

The comments came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks aimed at calming the crisis. Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, who is visiting Kiev on Tuesday, said he would send weapons – including artillery shells, ammunition, surface-to-air weapons, light mortar systems and drones – to Ukraine to help it fend off a potential large-scale Russian. Invade. His visit was followed by that of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who renewed the UK’s support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Johnson, who also accused Putin of “carrying a gun” to Ukraine’s head and trying to “redraw the security map of Europe.”

“Our part of Europe does not suffer from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but despite this, we live near a neighbor like Russia, we feel that we live near a volcano,” said the Polish prime minister.

Putin also expressed his hope that the dialogue would continue. Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, spoke by phone, in their first conversation since Washington sent a written response to Moscow’s security demands last week. Russia sent its own response to the US response on Tuesday.

Blinken “emphasized the United States’ readiness, bilaterally and with allies and partners, to continue substantive exchange with Russia on mutual security concerns, which we intend to do in full coordination with our partners and allies,” the State Department said.

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“I saw my visit as a mission of peace,” Urban said in Moscow. “I was able to tell the president that the European Union is united and there is not a single leader in the European Union who wants conflict with Russia. This is especially true of Central Europe.

In a Facebook post, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suggested that a new tripartite security “coordination” between Ukraine, the UK and Poland would help bolster the country’s defenses and security. We cannot expect security and prosperity somewhere in the future when we become members of the European Union and NATO. “We need them today,” Kuleba said.

The Polish arms shipment comes after the UK supplied Ukraine last month with thousands of NLAW anti-tank missiles and other equipment. The United States last year provided $650 million in military aid to Ukraine, on top of the $2.7 billion it has provided since the outbreak of war in the east of the country in 2014.

Earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky said Ukraine would add 100,000 professional soldiers to its 261,000-strong armed forces, and increase army salaries over the next three years.

Western backers of the United States and Ukraine fear that the increase in Russian forces could be in preparation for a Russian invasion or deeper incursions on top of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and spark a separatist proxy war in the eastern regions of the country.

The US State Department on Tuesday also ordered family members of US diplomats to leave Belarus amid growing concerns about “extraordinary and related Russian military buildup” on Belarus’ border with Ukraine.

Additional reporting by Marton Dunay in Budapest

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