Vladimir Putin ruled “positive»The first American reactions to the Russian demands to resolve the Russo-Western crisis around the Ukraine, which shakes the European security balance resulting from the Cold War.
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Russia has proposed two treaties, one to the United States and the other to the NATO country, to ban any enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, in particular to Ukraine, and the end of all Western military activity in the vicinity. Russian borders. “There must be no NATO advances towards the East, the ball is in their court, they must answer us“, he said.
“For now we are seeing a positive reaction, our American partners tell us that they are ready to start this discussion, these negotiations, at the start of the year in Geneva.Added the head of the Kremlin. He then reiterated that any future broadening of the Atlantic Alliance was “unacceptable“For Russia which will not tolerate a Western weapons system”on (his) doorstep“. The remark comes two days after he threatened the West with “military and technical measuresIf his demands were not accepted.
Requirements deemed “inadmissible”
Its demands, heavy with consequences for the European security architecture, were judged “inadmissibleBy many Western voices. The Russian president is suspected of preparing an invasion of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic now pro-Western, part of whose territory, Crimea, has already been annexed by Russia in 2014. More than 100,000 Russian soldiers are said to be deployed in the border.
Vladimir Putin rejected the accusations, but noted on Thursday that the anti-Russian policies of Ukraine and its Western allies, especially in the war against pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine, posed a threat to Moscow. “We have to think about our safety, not just for today, not for tomorrow“, he said. “We can’t live by looking over our shoulders and thinking, what’s going to happen? When are they going to knock?“He again accused the West of having”brazenly deceivedRussia in the 1990s by violating an alleged promise not to expand NATO.
Alexeï Navalny described as “con”
Asked about the repression of the Russian opposition, which increased considerably in 2021, Vladimir Poutin judged that it was not a question of muzzling detractors but of curbing operations of foreign influence. “I remind you of what our adversaries have been saying for centuries: Russia cannot be defeated, it can only be destroyed from within“, he said. According to him, this is what brought about the fall of the USSR 30 years ago. Throughout the year, the media, NGOs, journalists, lawyers and activists were targeted by various lawsuits.
The year began with the arrest of the main opponent Alexei Navalny, who had just survived a poisoning he said ordered by the Kremlin. Then his whole movement was banned for “extremism“. The Russian president called him a criminal on Thursday once again, referring to his conviction in a fraud case, deemed to have been fabricated by the opposition. “Convicts, there have always been. We must not commit crimes”, Said Vladimir Putin.
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He was also asked about the ravages of the Covid-19 epidemic. “There are things that can only worry us, such as life expectancyHe said, noting it “falling” on the bottom of “increasing mortality“. The low vaccination coverage, fueled by the mistrust of the population, and the absence of health restrictions have resulted in a heavy human toll.
Vladimir Putin said he was aiming for collective immunity with 80% of the population vaccinated or cured of Covid “at the end of the 1st trimester or in the 2nd trimester“. Currently, the government estimates this indicator at less than 60%, with 44% of the population vaccinated. “We have to convinceThe population, he said. More than 520,000 people have died from Covid in less than two years, according to official statistics from the Rosstat agency, reinforcing the demographic decline of Russia which has lost more than a million inhabitants in less than two years.
Read alsoSecurity guarantees: Putin calls for “serious” discussions with NATO
On the economic front, Vladimir Putin assured Thursday that his country was “better prepared for this shock (of the pandemic) than more developed economies in the world“. “We recovered much faster than others“, He said, noting an expected growth of 4.5%, a reality favored by minimum health restrictions and soaring oil prices.