“The ball is in their court”: Putin’s message to Westerners in the face of Ukraine crisis

The crisis shakes the European security balance dating from the Cold War. Vladimir Putin spoke about the revived tensions with Ukraine during his traditional end-of-year press conference, which was held this Thursday, December 23 for nearly four hours. More than 100,000 Russian troops are said to be deployed at the border, a number that raises fears of an upcoming invasion by neighboring Russia, about which he has been questioned.

“The United States is on our doorstep with missiles (…) How would the Americans react if we deployed our missiles at their borders with Canada or Mexico? It’s a matter of security and you know our red lines”, replied the Russian president, quoted by The Guardian and CNN. While maintaining “not wanting military action”.

Vladimir Poutine explains that if the forces are more and more numerous in this area, it is because the Westerners have also advanced their pawns. “There must be no NATO advances towards the east, the ball is in their court. They must answer us”, did he declare. And to add, quoted by CNN: “I have the impression that we live on different planets sometimes”. Russian President accuses NATO of having them “deceived”. “They said they weren’t going to widen, but they did”, he said, speaking “five waves of expansion”. “Now they are in Romania and Poland, with weapons systems”, he stressed.

Following the press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured that “the (military) alliance remained ready to have a constructive dialogue with Russia”, according to a statement released Thursday on the American side, after an interview between the two men.

A senior White House official later in the day confirmed that the United States was ready to “engage in diplomatic dialogue” with Russia “from the beginning of January”, but not without conditions. The White House, however, said that neither the date nor the place of a first meeting had been set.

A much more virulent reaction, on the British side. Foreign Minister Liz Truss condemned the “aggressive and inflammatory rhetoric” of the Kremlin against Ukraine and NATO, while welcoming Moscow’s willingness to engage in discussions. She repeated that “the strengthening of Russia’s military capabilities on the border with Ukraine and in the illegally annexed Crimea was unacceptable”.

In the evening, the head of the European Union’s diplomacy, Josep Borrell, again called Moscow to the “de-escalation” and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “He stressed that any further military aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and significant costs”.

Russia has presented two draft treaties to ban any enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, notably to Ukraine, and to put an end to Western military activities near Russian borders. According to Moscow, this is the only way to stem the escalation of tensions. On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin threatened his rivals with “military and technical measures” if his demands were not accepted. Discussions with the United States are due to start next year in Geneva to defuse the conflict.