In a press conference after his meeting with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the U.S. and NATO were trying to draw Russia into an attack on Ukraine or a broader war, in order to destroy Russia’s economy and stop its industrialization. His analysis is right on the money.
“I still believe the United States is not that concerned about Ukraine’s security, though they may think about it on the sidelines. Its main goal is to contain Russia’s development. This is the whole point,” Putin told the press conference as reported by the Kremlin. “In this sense, Ukraine is simply a tool to reach this goal. This can be done in different ways: by drawing us into some armed conflict, or compelling its allies in Europe to impose tough sanctions on us like the U.S. is talking about today, or by drawing Ukraine into NATO, deploying attack weapons there and encouraging some Banderites to resolve the issues of Donbass or Crimea by force. In this way, we could be drawn into an armed conflict regardless.” (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67690)
On the Minsk accords Putin said: “On the one hand, we hear statements from Ukraine that it wants to implement them, while we are constantly accused of not implementing the Minsk agreements. On the other hand, we hear public statements to the effect that Ukraine will collapse if it carries out these agreements. Has anyone thought that if they create such threats against Russia, they will only be creating similar threats against themselves?”
