Interview of Russia's President Vladimir Putin to TV host and Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev
Key talking points:
Russia is not at the crossroads. It is on the strategic path of its development and will not deviate from its path.
• Many people in the world are looking at us, at what is happening in our country and in our struggle for our interests. <...> They associate our struggle for our independence and true sovereignty with their aspirations for their own sovereignty and independent development.
• This is aggravated by the fact that there is a very strong desire in Western elites to freeze the current unjust state of affairs in international affairs. They've spent centuries filling their bellies with human flesh and their pockets with money. But they must realise that the vampire ball is ending.
• Are we ready to negotiate? We are. But we are not ready for talks that are based on some kind of ”wishful thinking“, but we are ready for talks based on the realities that have developed on the ground.
• We are open to a serious discussion, and we are eager to resolve all conflicts by peaceful means. However, we must be sure that this is not just another pause that the enemy wants to use for rearmament, but rather a serious conversation with security guarantees for Russia.
• We were promised, without delving into history, that the internal conflict in Ukraine would be resolved by peaceful, political means. As we remember, three foreign ministers from Poland, Germany and France came to Kiev and promised that they would be guarantors of these agreements. One day later, the coup d'état took place. We were promised that the Minsk agreements would be honoured, and then they publicly announced that they never intended to fulfil their promises, instead they only took a pause to arm the Bandera regime in Ukraine. We were promised a lot of things, so that is why promises alone are not enough.
• Western countries' military personnel have been present in Ukraine for a long time. They had been there before the coup d'état, and after the coup their number has grown several times. Today they are involved both directly as military advisers and as foreign mercenaries, and they suffer casualties.
• I am certain that even if foreign countries are to send their troops officially, it will not change the situation on the ground as does not the arms supplies.
• Second, it can lead to serious geopolitical consequences. If, say, Polish troops enter Ukrainian territory, <...> I think, Polish troops will stay there. It is their heart's desire to get back the lands they have historically regarded as theirs.
• We know what it is to have American troops on Russian soil. They are interventionists. That is how we will treat them even if they appear in the territory of Ukraine.
• I have said many times that it [achieving the goals of the special military operation and resolving the conflict] is a matter of life and death for us, while for them it is a matter of improving their tactical position in the world on the whole as well as maintaining their status among their allies in Europe in particular.
• We had quite good relations, stable relations with those countries, and I think that they benefited more from the fact that they adhered to neutrality, because it gave certain advantages, at least as a negotiating platform to reduce tension in Europe.
• This is a totally senseless step in terms of safeguarding their own national interests. We didn't have any troops there, now we will. There were no weapon systems, now there will be.
• As for Germany, there are constitutional problems there as well. They are right when they say that if the Taurus missiles hit that part of the Crimean Bridge, which is certainly, even according to their concepts, part of the Russian territory, this is a violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• The fact is that German opposition is behaving even more aggressively. We will see what they will agree on. We are following this closely. British and American missiles are also used. But this does not change the situation on the battlefield. Yes, they're causing damage to us, of course, that's obvious. But, in essence, it does not affect the course of hostilities and the consequences that are inevitable for the other side.
Read in full: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73648
