© Reuters. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a gathering with the Constitutional Court docket judges on Structure Day outdoors Moscow, Russia, December 12, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Tereschenko/Pool by way of REUTERS
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By Man Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin
MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin vowed on Thursday to combat on in Ukraine till Moscow secures the nation’s “demilitarization”, “denazification” and neutrality, until Kyiv accepts a deal that achieves these targets.
Fielding questions from the general public, media, and at one level frontline troopers, Putin took an uncompromising stance on Ukraine at a four-hour press convention held as he seeks one other six-year presidential time period in March.
Putin, now 71, instructed Russians his preliminary targets in Ukraine had not modified and that Russian forces had taken the initiative on the battlefield within the “special military operation” he launched on Feb. 24, 2022.
“Practically along the entire line of contact, our armed forces are, shall we say, modestly improving their position. Virtually all are in an active stage of action,” Putin mentioned.
Because the begin of the conflict, Kyiv has stepped up its pursuit of NATO and European Union membership, steps that it regards as important for its self-defence and independence from Russia however are opposed by Moscow.
Putin reiterated his view that the Western navy alliance’s eastward growth was the principle reason for the conflict – a view dismissed by the West, which sees Putin because the aggressor.
“There will be peace when we achieve our goals…As for demilitarisation, if they (the Ukrainians) don’t want to come to an agreement – well, then we are forced to take other measures, including military ones.
“Both we get an settlement, agree on sure parameters (on the dimensions and power of Ukraine’s navy)… or we resolve this by pressure. That is what we’ll attempt for.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said negotiations with Russia are impossible until all Russian soldiers have been expelled from Ukrainian territory, and is seeking further Western assistance to defend his country.
Kyiv and its allies have also dismissed Putin’s suggestion that Zelenskiy, a Jew, heads a “Nazi regime”.
Putin, Russia’s paramount leader for over two decades, has cast himself as the right man to continue leading Russia through a conflict that he sees as existential for Russia’s survival. Kyiv and its Western allies see the war on Ukraine as an unprovoked colonial-style land grab.
At one stage in the marathon press conference, Putin took questions from Russian forces fighting near the front line, with gunfire echoing in the background.
CRITICISM OF WEST
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, and millions have been forced from their homes.
Putin said he had detected signs that Western enthusiasm for providing Ukraine with military and financial aid was waning, but that he believed Kyiv would keep receiving help for now.
He said NATO’s eastward expansion had forced Russia into war.
“The unbridled want to creep in the direction of our borders, taking Ukraine into NATO, all this led to this tragedy,” he said, urging the U.S. to seek compromise instead of trying to resolve matters “with sanctions and navy intervention”.
Putin said the Russian economy, buffeted by Western sanctions, was set to grow by 3.5% this year, but also said that annual inflation could reach 8% and blamed the government for sharp rises in the price of eggs.
As he spoke, questions from the public flashed up on a giant screen with some asking why everything was becoming so costly.
In a rebuke to Israel, he said Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza were very different.
“…The Secretary Common of the United Nations referred to as in the present day’s Gaza Strip the largest graveyard of youngsters on this planet. It’s an goal evaluation,” he mentioned.
Kyiv, nevertheless, says a whole bunch of youngsters have been killed in Russian air strikes which have flattened residential areas on the town, cities and villages throughout Ukraine regardless of Moscow’s assertion that its doesn’t intentionally goal civilians.
Putin dominated out an extra wave of navy mobilisation in Russia for now, including that Moscow had 617,000 Russian troops preventing in Ukraine.
“The flow of men ready to defend our homeland… is not decreasing… There is no need for mobilisation as of today,” he mentioned.