Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of trying to draw Russia into a war, as tensions over Ukraine mount.
In a press conference the Russian president claimed the US and its allies were attempting to use the situation as a cover to introduce more sanctions on Russia, and said his country's 'principal concerns' about the possibility of eastern European countries joining the NATO military alliance were being ignored.
'It seems to me that the United States is not so much concerned about the security of Ukraine... but its main task is to contain Russia's development,' Putin said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday, January 2. 'In this sense Ukraine itself is just a tool to reach this goal.'
The US accused Russia of planning an invasion of Ukraine, with 100,000 Russian troops reportedly amassed on the country's border. Russia has denied the claims and it's believed Putin has yet to make a final decision on a possible invasion, however diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions have so far made little progress.
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Putin also repeated his opposition to former Soviet countries joining NATO, and appeared to suggest that if Ukraine were allowed to do so it could see western allies drawn into a war with Russia.
'Imagine that Ukraine is a NATO member and a military operation [to regain Crimea] begins,' Putin said, per BBC News. 'What – are we going to fight with NATO? Has anyone thought about this? It seems like they haven't.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously called on western countries to stop talking up the risk of an invasion, warning that it would 'not be a war between Ukraine and Russia – this would be a war in Europe, a full-scale one'.
The US, along with the UK and a number of other NATO members, have sent military supplies and other assistance to Ukraine in recent weeks, and are understood to be drawing up a new package of sanctions in the event of an invasion.
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However, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has stressed that the Biden administration still hopes to avert a further crisis, saying on Tuesday that it was 'committed to preventing a conflict that is in no one's interest'.
Fears of new Russian military action come eight years after the country annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, with ongoing conflict in the eastern Donbas region having resulted in 14,000 casualties since 2014.
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Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, World News