Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his government is assessing US and NATO responses to Moscow’s security concerns. But he anticipated that the country’s main complaints about him “were ignored.” For weeks, Putin did not speak much publicly about the crisis that has led to the buildup of tens of thousands of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders, raising fears of a possible invasion.
During a press conference on Tuesday, after his five-hour meeting in Moscow with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin said: “It is already clear, I informed the prime minister about this, that Russia’s fundamental concerns were ignored. We didn’t see adequate consideration of our three key requirements.”
Putin added that Russia did not see “adequate consideration of our three fundamental demands regarding the expansion of NATO, the renunciation of the deployment of attack weapons systems near Russian borders and the return of the bloc’s military infrastructure. ] in Europe to the state of 1997, when the Russia-NATO founding act was signed”.
The United States and NATO have said Putin’s demands — which include a promise never to expand east into countries like Ukraine — violate the organization’s open-door policy. Also that they are not a starting point in negotiations.
