Russian President Vladimir Putin held a press conference after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Heads of State Summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Touching on Russia’s decision to start military operations in Ukraine and the events that followed, Putin also warned the Kyiv administration. Underlining that Western countries are trying to make Ukraine their own political region, Putin said, “They have always tried to divide our country. It is only regrettable that the idea of Western countries to use Ukraine to achieve these goals from a certain moment arose. Some Western countries led by the United States, They tried to establish an anti-Russian enclave and spread a threat to Russia from there, they are trying,” he said.
“WE ARE NOT FIGHTING WITH OUR WHOLE ARMY”
Stating that Ukraine is trying to organize terrorist attacks on the nuclear power plants in his country, as well as the attacks launched by the Ukrainian army to reclaim the lands it lost in the Donbass region and hitting some cities on the borders of Russia, Putin said, “Ukraine tried to carry out terrorist attacks around the nuclear power plants in Russia. It may not have been made public yet. We will do everything we can to prevent such negativities. Not long ago the Russian army fired several precision shots. We will consider these to be warning shots. If the situation continues in this way, the response will be much more serious. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that “We are not fighting with our entire army. Russia is fighting with only a part of its army, with contract soldiers. In this respect, we are not in a hurry and there will be no change,” he said.
“I HAVE NOT SEEN THE SECURITY GUARANTEE THAT UKRAINE EXPLAINS”
Reminding that Ukraine has not yet seen the new draft security guarantees announced this week and that an agreement was reached in the negotiations in Istanbul before, but Ukraine withdrew without signing this agreement, Putin said, “Kiev’s attitude can change very quickly. Kyiv abandoned the agreed-upon draft agreement. In this draft, we agreed to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. I don’t know what’s on their minds now. Because their stance is changing almost daily on every issue. We need to see the draft. “I would like to remind you that we have raised security principles and measures to ensure security, but no one has found it necessary to respond,” he said.
“RELATED EVENTS HAVE NO RELATED TO KARABAKH”
Responding to a journalist’s question about the clashes between the armies of Azerbaijan and Armenia that started last week, Putin said, “The growth of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the influence of Russia, has been prevented. The latest border incident has nothing to do with Karabakh. Completely different region, Armenia. “It happened on the Azerbaijani border,” he said.
Asked whether he will attend the G20 summit in Indonesia, Putin said, “The invitation has come, I will look into it. But Russia will.”