Putin says the claims that Russia is supposedly planning a war with NATO countries are nonsense. "They're trying to scare their population to extort more money."
He pointed out that around 40% of global military spending falls on the United States and Russia 3.5%. “Are we, having this disparity (of defense costs), going to fight with NATO or something? This is just crap!
"What they say about us going to attack Europe after Ukraine is complete nonsense, intimidating their own population, solely with the purpose to beat money out of them, out of their people," he stressed.
Putin emphasized that Russia has no aggressive intentions, and "it would never have started fighting in Ukraine if there had not been a coup d’état followed by military action in the Donbas."
After eight years of "deception" with the Minsk agreements, Russia was "simply forced to switch to another form of protection of its interests," he said.
"The war in Ukraine was unleashed in 2014....Still we agreed to sign the Minsk agreements (aimed at ending the conflict). It turns out we were deceived. For eight years, they had been delaying (the implementation) and finally forced us to transit to a different form of protecting our interests and people," he said.
Putin emphasized that Russia has no aggressive intentions, and "it would never have started fighting in Ukraine if there had not been a coup d’état followed by military action in the Donbas."
After eight years of "deception" with the Minsk agreements, Russia was "simply forced to switch to another form of protection of its interests," he said.
"The war in Ukraine was unleashed in 2014....Still we agreed to sign the Minsk agreements (aimed at ending the conflict). It turns out we were deceived. For eight years, they had been delaying (the implementation) and finally forced us to transit to a different form of protecting our interests and people," he said.
Translation:
Translated by AI
