Russian Presidency: “Moscow will maintain its military presence near the borders of Ukraine”
Dmitry Peskov, Russian presidential spokesman announced that Moscow considers it necessary to maintain its military presence near the borders of Ukraine, in light of the intensification of NATO’s hostile activities in this country.
A Kremlin spokesman told CNN: “There are Russian forces in Russia’s territory near the borders of Ukraine, and we believe it is necessary to keep them there in light of the very tense and hostile atmosphere caused by various NATO exercises, the flight of its fighters and spy planes, and the approaching of its infrastructure. from our borders.
Peskov noted that Russia does not see NATO as a defense alliance dedicated to fostering peace, stability and prosperity, but rather as “a confrontation tool that extends day after day towards our borders.”
He added, “We saw a lot of data for the extension of NATO’s military infrastructure to the territory of Ukraine, its training of Ukrainian soldiers and supplying them with defensive and offensive weapons, and all of this made us draw a red error, and we reached a situation about which we can no longer remain silent.”
Peskov stressed that NATO expansion, according to Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, constitutes a real threat to security and stability in Europe.
Peskov again denied the presence of Russian military personnel in the Donbass region in southeastern Ukraine and the validity of Western allegations that Moscow planned to “invade” this neighboring country.
He said: “We do not threaten anyone to attack, and this matter would be insane, but we will be ready to adopt response measures in the event that NATO continues to expand.”
Commenting on a recent initiative in the US Congress to impose sanctions on senior Russian officials, including Putin, in the event of “Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine,” he warned that such a step might lead to a severing of relations between Russia and the United States.
Peskov stressed that Russia will not negotiate with anyone about the possibility of withdrawing its missiles or any other weapons from the Kaliningrad province in the far west of the country, stressing that this province is part of Russian territory.
