Speaking on the issue of Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if Kiev starts a military operation in Crimea, Russia will be pulled into an armed conflict with the bloc, which is a bad scenario for everyone involved
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2022) Speaking on the issue of Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if Kiev starts a military operation in Crimea, Russia will be pulled into an armed conflict with the bloc, which is a bad scenario for everyone involved.
"Ukraine's official doctrine says that they are going to return Crimea, including by military means. It is not just what they say to the public, it is written in their documents. Let's imagine that Ukraine is a member of NATO, stuffed with weapons, equipped with modern attack systems in the same way as Poland and Romania - who will stop it when it starts operations in Crimea, and I'm not even talking about Donbas," Putin said at a press conference following a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He stressed that Crimea is sovereign Russian territory and this issue is a done deal.
"Imagine that Ukraine is a NATO country and starts these military operations. Should we fight the NATO bloc? Has anyone given this scenario thought? Looks like it's a no to me," Putin added.
The Russian president further noted that by creating security threats for Russia, Ukraine is doing the same to itself, especially regarding the issue of the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
"On the one hand, we hear statements that Ukraine wants to comply, they constantly blame us for not complying with the Minsk agreements, and at the same time, there are public statements that, if Ukraine fulfills these agreements, it will collapse. And no one thought that if it creates such threats for Russia, it creates similar threats for itself. These are all issues that require very careful consideration and consideration of each other's interests," he said.
