Vladimir Putin said that the war against Ukraine became “inevitable”.
Peace talks to end the war in Ukraine are at a “dead end”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
Putin pointed out that Ukraine “falsely” accused the Russian military of committing war crimes and demanded security guarantees during a rare public appearance alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The Russian president added that the invasion of Ukraine became “inevitable“, as part of a speech he gave to mark the 61st anniversary since Yuri Gagarin became the first man to reach space.
Putin was accompanied on Tuesday by his partner and president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko (left).
He stated that he had no choice but to attack Ukraine to protect the Russian-speaking region of Donbas and insisted that his forces are helping the oppressed in the breakaway regions from Ukraine.
“On the one hand, we are helping and saving people, and on the other hand, we are simply taking steps to guarantee the security of Russia itself,” added the 69-year-old president.
“Clearly we had no choice. It was the right decision“, he added. “The objectives are perfectly clear, they are noble.”
The Kremlin denounces that Ukraine has committed a genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine, but there is no evidence to support that claim.
Putin received his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksander Lukashenko.
The UN has reported that more than 10 million people they have been forced to flee their homes since the invasion began and the Russian economy has been hit by a package of harsh sanctions imposed by Western nations.
However, Putin said that Russia “does not pretend to be isolated“, arguing that it is “impossible to severely isolate someone in the modern world, especially a country as vast as Russia.”
From the Vostochny Cosmodrome, 5,550 kilometers east of Moscow, the Russian leader highlighted the success of the Soviet space program, comparing Gagarin’s achievements during the Cold War with today’s international isolation of Russia.
“The sanctions were total, the isolation was total, but the sovietic Union it was still the first in space,” Putin said.
For his part, Lukashenko dismissed the impact of the sanctions, asking Putin: “Why the hell are we so worried about these sanctions?” accusations of atrocities in northern Ukraine are “a psychological operation carried out by the British”.
Last week, the UK government predicted that Russia is headed for its deepest recession since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The UK Foreign Office warned that the PIB de Rusia contract between 8.5% and 15% this year, as the impact of international sanctions deepens.
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