Russian President Vladimir Putin warned this Sunday of “problems with Finland”, but assured that his country has “no interest” in fighting against NATO countries, neither geopolitically, economically nor militarily.
“The West dragged Finland into NATO. Did we have any disputes with them? All disputes, including territorial disputes in the mid-20th century, were resolved a long time ago. There were no problems,” Putin told state television, quoted by the France-Presse news agency.
“Now we are going to create the Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain number of military units there,” he added.
Responding to US President Joe Biden’s accusations that Russia is preparing to attack the Atlantic Alliance, Putin was clear: “It’s sovereign nonsense.”
“All of NATO cannot fail to understand that Russia has no reason, no interest, neither geopolitical, nor economic, nor political, nor military, in fighting with NATO countries,” he said in statements on the program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.”
Putin stressed that this includes the United States, which he called “the sole owner of NATO,” since the military bloc is “his backyard.”
“We do not have territorial disputes with them nor do we want to spoil relations with them,” he stressed, statements published on Telegram by Pavel Zarubin, host of the program.
The Kremlin is interested “in developing relations” with these countries, which supported Ukraine in its war with Russia from the beginning.
“I think President Biden also understands that this is just a rhetorical figure to justify his erratic policy toward Russia,” he said.
Looking back, Putin accused the West of seeking the disintegration of the Russian Federation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In this way, Russia “will have no weight or voice and will not be able to defend its national interests as the united Russian State does,” he said.
“They will have to find common ground with us, since they will have to take us into account,” insisted the Russian leader, who guarantees that the world is changing and that the West is no longer the only hegemonic power.
He also admitted having committed “naivety” in the first years of his mandate at the head of the Kremlin, thinking that the former enemies of the USSR would understand that Russia is another country, that the “ideological antagonism” had ended and that it was necessary to renounce the policy of “confrontation.”
Putin, who has been in power since 2000 and who will receive the support of the Kremlin party this Sunday for his candidacy for re-election in the 2024 presidential elections, assured this week, in his first major press conference after the war, that there will be no peace in Ukraine until Russia achieves the goals it set for itself in February 2022.
Source: TSF
