President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that questions about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and numerous attacks by the Russian Armed Forces are provocative.
He voiced an akin point of view during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
When asked whether Russia is going to attack Ukraine or not, Putin answered, “This is a question designed to provoke”.
At the same time, Putin added that Russia, in his opinion, "pursues a peaceful foreign policy but it has the right to ensure its security, as I have already said, in the medium to longer-term”.
In addition, Putin once again stated that Russia is worried about Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
“We are bound to be concerned over the prospect of Ukraine’s potential accession to NATO because this will be followed by the deployment of corresponding troop contingents, bases, and weapons that threaten us. I have already described this in broad strokes, replying to the previous question. I will flesh out my claims in response to your question. I think it will be enough of an answer for today,” Putin said.
He also mentioned that the deployment of NATO weapons near Russia’s border is considered a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation.
“That said, over the past few decades we continuously expressed our concerns and asked our partners to abstain from certain actions but nonetheless NATO infrastructure inevitably moved closer to our borders and now we are seeing MK 14 missile defense systems in Poland and Romania. We have every reason to believe that the same will happen in Ukraine if NATO accepts it. How can we not think about this? Looking on helplessly at what is happening there would be simply criminal negligence. This is exactly what our talks dealt with,” Putin said.