It’s a script Putin has read from before. In concluding remarks, he complained about what he characterized as NATO’s history of deceptions, saying the alliance had previously promised to expand “not an inch” eastward.
“They said one thing, they did another,” Putin said. “As people say, they screwed us over, well they simply deceived us.”
The other points Putin raised — a halt to NATO expansion eastwards and the return of NATO’s infrastructure in Europe to its 1997 footprint — were also not new. On those issues, Washington and Moscow remain far apart: The US and NATO insist on an open-door policy for new members and say Russia has no veto over new membership.
So what, exactly, was the takeaway? Putin has yet to give a full, formal response to the US and NATO letters sent a week ago in response to Russia’s security demands, and it is unclear when a reply is forthcoming.
What was striking was Putin’s return to his obsession with Ukraine and his vision of its proper relationship with Russia. In his remarks, Putin insisted the aim of the US was to “draw us into armed conflict” over Ukraine by using the country as a springboard for NATO operations.
“Their main task is to contain the development of Russia,” Putin said. “In this sense, Ukraine itself is simply a tool to achieve this goal. This can be done in different ways. Draw us into some kind of armed conflict and force — among other things — their allies in Europe to impose the very tough sanctions against us that are being talked about in the United States today. Or draw Ukraine into NATO, set up strike weapon systems there and encourage some Banderites [Ukrainian nationalists] to resolve the issue of Donbas or Crimea by force of arms. And thus draw us into an armed conflict!”
“I hope that we will eventually find this solution, although it is not an easy one, and we are aware of this,” he said. “But what that will be, I’m not ready to say today, of course.”
The initiative, in that respect, remains Putin’s.