Russia will respond firmly to any "hostile measure" by NATO, warned on Tuesday the president, Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with the country's main military officials.
The Russian president stressed that, in the event that the West maintains an "obviously aggressive" line, Moscow will respond with
"adequate technical-military measures"
and will react "firmly to these unfriendly steps."
He also noted that Russia has every right to act in order to "guarantee its security and sovereignty."
"We know well that we cannot believe in any legal guarantee, because the US easily abandons all international agreements that cease to interest it for some reason, with any excuse or even without explanations," he accused.
[Biden warns Putin in a virtual meeting about the "very real cost" that Russia would pay to invade Ukraine]
President Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, tried to reduce tensions around Ukraine, amid accusations from the West that the Kremlin may plan an attack on their neighboring country.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for his part, said that the United States had deployed some 8,000 troops near Russian borders and that, together with NATO allies, it frequently organized flights of strategic bombers near Russia, it reported. Reuters.
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Putin spoke days after Moscow presented draft security pacts
demanding that NATO deny Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations entry to the organization
and reduce the alliance's military deployment in central and eastern Europe, as far as which is a bold ultimatum that the West will surely reject.
The demands, which come in a proposal for a security treaty between Russia and the United States and a security agreement between Moscow and NATO, were made amid mounting tensions over an increased presence of Russian soldiers near Ukraine. which has raised the fear of a possible invasion.
[Biden demands Putin over the phone to act against 'hackers' and threatens to take action to defend US interests]
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden made it clear to him in his first virtual meeting that there will be a "very real cost" if Russia takes military action against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a meeting in Moscow, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. Mikhail Tereshchenko / AP
Russia has denied that it has plans to attack its neighbor, but has lobbied for legal guarantees that rule out NATO expansion and the deployment of weapons there.
Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, sparking a conflict in eastern Ukraine that has left more than 14,000 dead.
"What the United States is doing in Ukraine is on our doorstep," he
said of Washington's support for Kiev, The Guardian reported.
“Under the protection [of the United States], they are arming and urging extremists from a country neighboring Russia.
Against Crimea, for example.
Do you think we are going to watch idly? ”He added.
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Putin said that NATO has expanded eastward since the late 1990s, saying that Western concerns about Russia are unfounded.
"What is happening now, the tensions that are growing in Europe, is their fault (the United States and NATO) at all times," said the president.
“Russia has been forced to respond at all times.
The situation keeps getting worse and worse, deteriorating more and more.
Furthermore, we are here today, in a situation in which we are forced to resolve it in some way, "he said.
With information from The Associated Press, EFE,
Reuters
and
The Guardian
.