Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the US and the wider West, claiming on Tuesday that America wants to drag the war into Ukraine. “The situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict,” he said during a speech at a conference in Moscow on international security, Russian state news agency Interfax reported. Putin also claimed that the US was trying to maintain its hegemonic position in the world and that the West wanted to expand its defense “bloc system”, such as the NATO military alliance, in Asia. “We also see that the collective West seeks to expand its bloc system in the Asia-Pacific region like NATO in Europe. For this purpose, warlike military-political alliances are formed, such as AUKUS and others,” Putin claimed. , referring to the tripartite security pact between Australia, the UK and the US signed last year. In addition, he said US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, which angered Russia’s ally China, was a “completely engineered provocation”, saying such a “reckless” trip was “part of a deliberate, conscious strategy of the United States. for its destabilization and chaos in the region and the world” and “an insolent display of disrespect for the sovereignty of other countries and for its international obligations”. Putin has once again defended Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, saying it was carried out “to ensure the security of Russia and our citizens”. Russia claims its offensive in Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation”, is aimed at “liberating” pro-Russian breakaway areas in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, which it has supported since 2014. Russia’s latest, full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused widespread destruction, death and displacement among the country’s civilian population. The United Nations said on Monday that at least 5,500 civilians have been killed in the fighting, although the actual number is likely to be much higher, given the chaotic nature of recording such data in times of war. Russia’s invasion also drew international condemnation and a flurry of wide-ranging economic sanctions on key sectors of the country, companies and individuals linked to the Kremlin. The Russian leader’s obsession with Ukraine is long-standing and he has repeatedly extolled the unity of Russians and Ukrainians while at the same time decrying the country’s pro-Western government under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Political analysts told CNBC that Putin’s claims to the Ukrainian government are nonsense, reflecting an irrational and bad attitude towards the leadership in Kyiv and its direction. Western officials and close followers of Russia also see Putin’s comments and his version (and often revisionist view) of history as an attempt to create false and misleading narratives. The US and its European NATO allies have sought to help Ukraine defend its territorial sovereignty with aid in the form of weapons, economic and humanitarian aid, saying Russia must not be allowed to succeed in its territorial grab of Ukraine. But Russia has said Western aid to Ukraine is the culmination of years of anti-Russian sentiment, and has blamed NATO for starting the war.
Europe’s security system
The lead-up to the war in Ukraine began in late 2021 with Russia massing more than 100,000 troops on the border with its smaller neighbor while insisting it has no plans to invade. Russia sought assurances from NATO in December 2021 that Ukraine would not be allowed to join the military alliance in the future (although there are no tangible plans to do so) and demanded that NATO withdraw its military presence in Eastern Europe . He also sought guarantees that the military alliance would not expand further towards Russia’s borders, again despite the fact that there was no prospect of expansion – at the time. NATO officials said there was room for negotiation but rejected Russia’s main demands, and on February 24, Russia launched a full-scale invasion, widely believed to be capable of a quick victory in Ukraine and the overthrow of its pro-Western government. Nearly six months on and the war shows no signs of ending anytime soon, with Ukrainian forces bolstered with heavy Western weaponry — particularly US-donated HIMARS, or high-mobility artillery missile systems, that are making a tangible difference in the direction of war. The invasion had other dramatic, unintended consequences for Moscow with NATO coming together stronger than ever. Europeans that have delayed defense spending, such as Germany, have also pledged to increase such purchases in immediate response to Russia’s aggression. In addition, traditionally non-aligned countries Sweden and Finland have now applied to join NATO, roughly doubling the land borders Russia shares with NATO countries. Predictably, Moscow condemned the expansion and threatened retaliation without openly stating what form it might take. Despite its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has blamed the West for changing Europe’s security architecture, and on Tuesday, Putin said in a speech that “the so-called collective West is deliberately destroying the European security system, putting together new military alliances.” “The NATO bloc is moving eastward, building up its military infrastructure, including deploying missile defense systems and increasing the strike capabilities of offensive forces,” he said. “In words, it is hypocritically stated that there is a need to strengthen security in Europe, but in reality it is exactly the opposite,” he said. “The proposals made by Russia last December for mutual security measures were simply ignored once again,” he added. Timothy Ash, senior emerging market strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, dismissed Putin’s comments in emailed comments on Tuesday, saying there are many instances of Russia seeking to destabilize the European security system, from funding unrest in former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Moldova to its intervention in the Syrian civil war and the use of biological weapons against critics of the Kremlin. “Russia intervened in the Syrian civil war with the precise intention of creating a refugee wave in Europe to destabilize the continent. Putin supports far-left and far-right parties in Europe. Russia is now cutting energy supplies to Europe to create energy shortages and social and political unrest. But the West is deliberately undermining European security,” Ash said.
