The Russian president said today that his American counterpart Joe Biden had suggested to him in 2021 to “postpone Ukraine’s accession to the EU by 10-15 years”.
Joining the North Atlantic Alliance has been a long-standing request of Kiev.
“In 2021, the current president proposed to me exactly that: postponing Ukraine’s NATO membership for 10-15 years, because the country was not yet ready,” Putin said during a televised news conference.
“I answered logically ‘yes, (Ukraine) is not ready today. But you will prepare it so that it is ready and you will accept it” (as a member), Putin added.
However, for Russia, “what’s the difference? today, tomorrow or in ten years?”, stressed the Russian president.
Moscow considers Ukraine’s accession to NATO a red line.
Instead, Kiev presents membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as necessary for its security vis-à-vis Russia and requests an invitation to join as soon as possible.
The Ukrainian leadership, however, has acknowledged that its accession could come after the war with Russia, triggered by the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Washington and Berlin in particular are wary of any prospect of Ukraine’s rapid accession to NATO.
In early December, the Kremlin warned again that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would constitute an “unacceptable” threat to Russia.
Slovakia offered to host peace talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin also said Slovakia had offered to be a “platform” for possible peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, nearly three years after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fičo “said that if there are negotiations, his country would be happy to provide a platform,” Putin said, noting that Russia was “not opposed” to such a proposal. Fico, one of the few European leaders to maintain close ties with the Kremlin even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, visited Moscow on December 22.
In the press conference given by the Russian president, he said that Moscow will achieve “all (its) goals in Ukraine”. “That’s the number one goal,” he said.
At the same time, he said that Moscow may use the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile again, but is in no rush to do so. “We do not exclude the possibility of using it either today or tomorrow, if necessary,” Putin said, adding that if necessary, Russia can use more powerful medium-range weapons.
