Putin demands negotiations

In the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Putin has called on NATO and the US to “immediately” negotiate security guarantees with Russia. Vladimir Putin stressed the need for immediate negotiations during a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Niinistö, the Kremlin announced. The eastward expansion of NATO’s military alliance as well as the deployment of weapons systems in Ukraine and other countries neighboring Russia should be ruled out, Putin stressed.

Moscow had previously demanded that the possibility of Ukraine and Georgia joining the Western military alliance be ruled out. However, the membership of these two countries in NATO is not on the agenda.

Recently, tensions between Russia and the West in the conflict over Ukraine have escalated significantly. In the face of the massive deployment of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, observers fear that Moscow will intervene militarily in Ukraine.