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Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin: "We are absolutely able to know what is where"
Photo: IMAGO/Grigory Sysoev / IMAGO/SNA
G7 summit, Finland and Sweden joining NATO, bombing of a shopping center in Kremenchuk: recent events have provoked Russia's President Vladimir Putin to make a detailed statement.
He threatened NATO with consequences, invoked the planned course of the Ukraine war - and commented on the naked bodies of the G7 heads of state and government.
Russian reaction to Finland and Sweden joining NATO
According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia does not see itself threatened by Finland and Sweden joining NATO, but will take military countermeasures.
“There is nothing that would worry us about Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
If you want – please,” the Kremlin chief told journalists in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.
But the countries would have to brace themselves for a Russian reaction.
Under the impression of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Finland and Sweden had decided to give up their decades of neutrality and join NATO.
The admissions process was launched at the Alliance summit in Madrid on Wednesday.
The expansion will extend Russia's border with the alliance by more than 1,300 kilometers.
"They need to get a clear picture of the fact that there were no threats to them before - but if troops are stationed there and infrastructure is put in place, we will have to respond in a mirrored manner and create the same threats on the territory from which we are being threatened," Putin was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.
"Everything was good between us, but now there will be tensions - that's obvious, without a doubt, it can't work without it." Russia had already threatened the consequences after the first plans for the two countries to join NATO.
Nevertheless, Putin argued that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would be very different from Ukraine's membership.
The thesis that Russia fought against Ukraine's admission to NATO and thereby triggered the enlargement to include Finland and Sweden is unfounded.
The West has tried to turn Ukraine into an "anti-Russia" from where his country was supposed to be destabilized and where Russian culture was fought, Putin claimed.
That doesn't exist in Finland and Sweden.
According to Putin, the Ukraine war is going according to plan
Putin described the course of the war in Ukraine as planned.
"The work is quiet, rhythmic, the troops are moving and reaching the lines that have been set for them as milestones," Putin said.
"Everything is going according to plan," the Russian news agency Tass quoted him as saying.
On February 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine from several directions.
Having failed to reach the capital, Kyiv, due to fierce resistance from Ukrainian units, they are concentrating on the Donbass industrial area in eastern Ukraine.
According to Western experts, the Russian military is advancing, suffering heavy casualties and rapidly depleting its artillery shells.
Putin repeated the previous description of the goals of the "special operation", as the Russian leadership calls the war of aggression.
It is about "liberating" the Donbass, "protecting" the local residents and "creating conditions that would guarantee Russia's security," said the Russian president.
NATO wanted to turn Ukraine into an "anti-Russian bridgehead," Putin reiterated earlier justifications for the attack.
Putin declined to comment on how long the hostilities could continue.
"It would be wrong to set any deadlines," he said.
More intense fighting would mean higher casualties and "the main thing we have to think about is how to save our boys' lives."
Putin described the Russian soldiers as "heroes".
Songs and poems should be written about them and monuments should be given to them, he said.
Ukrainian and international experts have documented numerous cases of violence against civilians by Russian soldiers, such as the killing of residents in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
Moscow claims the atrocities are staged.
Recently, a shopping center in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was bombed.
18 people died, but the Russian leader denied responsibility for the attack.
“Our army does not attack civilian infrastructure.
We're perfectly capable of knowing what's where,' he said.
According to Putin, naked heads of state would be a “disgusting sight”
The fact that the G7 heads of state joked about photos of Putin shirtless did not go down well with the Kremlin chief.
If the G7 leaders had exposed themselves, it would have been a "disgusting sight," Putin countered.
The conversation Putin touched on happened at the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria on Sunday afternoon.
In view of the high temperatures, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked whether jackets were to be taken off or not, and added: "We all have to show that we are tougher than Putin." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replied, among other things: Riding naked Upper body, you have to do that.
He alluded to a well-known photo of Putin in such a pose.
“I don't know how they wanted to undress, above or below the waistline.
In any case, I think it would have been a disgusting sight,” Putin was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency Tass.
For the harmony between body and soul you have to do sports, not drink too much alcohol and give up other bad habits, Putin instructed the heads of state and government of the leading democratic industrialized countries.
Until the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, which belongs to Ukraine, in 2014, Russia was a participant in the expanded G8 summits.
muk/dpa