Putin Again Warns, U.S. and NATO Have Not Answered Any of the Key Security Issues That Russia Raised

Feb. 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin held a joint press conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron after their six-hour meeting on Monday night, Feb. 7, and answered questions from the media with repeated, stark warnings about the danger of thermonuclear war between the superpowers, and sharp insistence that “none of the key issues [on security presented by Russia] were answered [by the U.S. and NATO], even with a simple yes or no.” He said that Russia will “draft a statement, our vision” on these matters shortly. Here are some salient quotes:

“Look, our proposals include not only NATO’s expansion, which we oppose, but also a second point: the non-deployment of offensive systems near our borders. If everyone wants peace, tranquility, well-being and confidence, what is bad about not deploying offensive weapons near our borders? Can anyone tell me what is bad about this? If NATO is a peaceful organization, what is bad about returning its infrastructure to the level of 1997, when the NATO-Russia Act was signed? This would create conditions for building up confidence and security. Is this bad?...

“The incumbent President [Zelenskyy of Ukraine] recently stated that he does not like a single point of the Minsk agreements. Well, like it or lump it, you have to fulfill them. It will not work otherwise.... So just pluck up the courage, acknowledge what is written, stop saying that black is white and white is black and get to work....

“Do you realize that if Ukraine joins NATO and decides to take Crimea back through military means, the European countries will automatically get drawn into a military conflict with Russia? Of course, NATO’s united potential and that of Russia are incomparable. We understand that, but we also understand that Russia is one of the world’s leading nuclear powers, and is superior to many of those countries in terms of the number of modern nuclear force components. But there will be no winners, and you will find yourself drawn into this conflict against your will. You will be fulfilling Paragraph 5 of the Treaty of Rome in a heartbeat, even before you know it....

“We have tried to talk to them about avoiding certain actions for 30 years now. What we get in response is total disregard for our concerns, demands and proposals.... They do not comply with anything, while expecting us to comply with everything? Let us not play this game, it is a bad sandbox. We do not like this game....

“None of the key issues [raised by Russia], such as the non-expansion of NATO, the non-deployment of assault systems near our borders, the rollback of NATO infrastructure to where it was in 1997, were answered even with a simple yes or no. The impression is that we did not even raise these questions. They simply let them go unnoticed. What we see there are political clichés and proposals concerning minor issues.

“I do not think our dialogue will end with that. We are going to draft an answer, our vision, and send it to Washington and Brussels. President Macron was duly informed about where we stand.”