Security threats keep Russian leader vigilant

'In different worlds'

"They said they wouldn't expand, and then they did expand. They said there would be equal guarantees for all, but there is no equal security. It seems to me sometimes that we live in different worlds," Putin said.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999, followed by Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2004. In subsequent years Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia joined, bringing NATO's members to 30.

Putin accused the West of trying to make Ukraine "anti-Russia, constantly beefed up with modern weapons and brainwashing the population".

Russia cannot keep living in anticipation of looming security threats posed by the possible deployment of Western weapons in Ukraine, he said.

The Russian newspaper Izvestia said that if US missile systems are deployed to Ukraine, their flight time to Moscow will drop to seven to 10 minutes, and the flight time of hypersonic weapons will be no longer than five minutes, which is the biggest concern of the Kremlin.

Izvestia quoted military sources in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that Russia has already started to develop retaliatory measures to respond to the possible deployment of US hypersonic weapons to Europe and Ukraine, and these measures will have to fend off potential threats.

Moscow's proposals aimed at ensuring security in Europe include a Russia-NATO moratorium on the deployment of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles and strategic nuclear weapons to the region, as well as a ban on the movement of NATO's infrastructure to Ukraine. To avoid tensions, Moscow suggested making legally binding agreements on the issue.

"Unfortunately, we've been misled many times, to put it mildly, in terms of the political guarantees that were promised to presidents Gorbachev and Yeltsin," the paper quoted the former Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ordzhonikidze as saying.

The statement about the need for legal guarantees means that Russia has done a lot to correct its mistakes, he was quoted as saying.

"We don't need to make the same mistakes again and give in to shenanigans. This is why we demand that everything should be documented like in agreements where there is one party, the other party, and a ratification process."

But at the Dec 23 news conference Putin refused to rule out another military solution to the tensions with Ukraine. Kiev, he said, was planning an offensive to reclaim Donbass, the eastern border region now controlled by separatists.

Although Kiev has repeatedly requested direct dialogue by the two leaders, Putin made clear he did not see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a negotiating partner, accusing him of falling under the influence of what he called radical nationalist forces.

"How can I build a relationship with the current leadership, given what they are doing? It's practically impossible."

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said there was no intention to start a military offensive in Donbass, where the slow-burning conflict has killed more than 14,000 people.

A senior US administration official on Dec 23 said Washington would engage in diplomacy in January, but that the agenda would be broader than the proposals published by Moscow. The official also reiterated the threat of "massive sanctions" on Russia if it invaded Ukraine.