No guarantees of non-invasion from Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered no guarantees that Russia would not invade Ukraine and drew a parallel line between the temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia and the U.S. "territorial issues" with its neighbors.

Putin addressed the issue during his 17th big annual press conference, answering a question from a SkyNews correspondent on security guarantees and lack of intention to attack Ukraine or other sovereign states, Ukrinform reports.

“Our actions will not depend on the course of the negotiations, but on whether Russia's security is unconditionally ensured, today and in the historical perspective. We have spoken loud and clear that NATO's further eastward expansion is unacceptable. What can’t be understood here? Are we deploying missiles near the borders of the United States? No. It was the United States with its missiles that came to our house, they are already on the threshold of our home,” Putin said.

The Russian president does not consider such a position (on non-deployment of strike systems at the borders of the Russian Federation) an "excessive requirement."

At the same time, he said that Texas and California had not always belonged to the United States and the country had territorial issues with its neighbors. In this case, if the Russian Federation wanted to place its missiles on the U.S. border with Canada or Mexico, it would not be perceived positively.

“Everything has calmed down, and no one brings it up as they do Crimea. But we also try not to recall how Ukraine developed and who created it. It was Lenin, Vladimir Illich when he created the USSR,” Putin claimed.

According to the Russian leader, now it is not the course of the negotiations that is important, but their result, since in the 1990s, the West promised “not an inch to the East” and “blatantly deceived” Russia, which was followed five waves of NATO expansion.

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