On Friday, May 14, a day after the Ukrainian court placed Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent pro-Russian politician and personal friend of the Russian president, under house arrest, Putin claimed that Ukraine “just cleared up the policy field” due to its interests. In addition, Putin warned that Moscow would be ready to react to what he said were threats to its own security amid soaring tensions with Kyiv, TASS reports.
During the operational meeting with members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation in Novo-Ogarev, Vladimir Putin commented on the events related to the accusation against People's Deputy of Ukraine Viktor Medvedchuk.
The President of the Russian Federation said that Ukraine is slowly but surely being turned into an antipode of Russia. He accused Ukraine of becoming “anti-Russia”, a platform from which the Russian Federation will constantly receive news that requires special attention.
Ukrainian authorities were targeting individuals who favoured better ties with Russia and supported a peaceful settlement in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian-backed separatists since 2014, and also highlighted the closing of some pro-Russian media outlets.
“Judging by everything, and this is very sad, Ukraine is slowly but surely turning into some kind of polar opposite of Russia, some kind of anti-Russia, and into a platform from whose territory it seems we will constantly receive news requiring our special attention from a security point of view,” Putin said.
“National media outlets are being shut down – and our Western partners are not reacting at all, if not to say supporting such rulings,” he added.
Putin went on to warn Moscow would not stand idly by what he described as a selective crackdown on certain individuals doing business with Russia.
“This is, of course, an issue that should always be on our radar and we should respond to this given the threats being created for us in a timely and appropriate manner,” he said.