huffingtonpost - 1 month ago

Vladimir Putin and Mark RutteVladimir Putin’s spokesperson in the Kremlin has accused Nato of making “irresponsible” comments amid Europe’s ongoing efforts to secure a peace deal.Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Thursday that the defence alliance should be “prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured”, and warned: “We are Russia’s next target.”Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, eight years after illegally annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine, the Donbas, have also been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014.The aggression against Ukraine caused an uproar among western allies in Europe and the US, pushing relations to their lowest depths since the Cold War.There are widespread fears that, if Putin is rewarded for his aggression in Ukraine with more land, he will come back to seize more European territory.The Russian president has also been regularly accused of launching a “shadow” conflict with Ukraine’s allies in a bid to destabilise the wider west, although Moscow denies it.Even so, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed Rutte’s remarks in comments to state TV reporter, Pavel Zarubin.He said: “This seems like a statement by a representative of a generation that has managed to forget what World War Two was actually like.“They have no understanding, and unfortunately, Mr Rutte, making such irresponsible statements, simply does not understand what he is talking about.”Putin insists that Russia does not want a war with Europe. He said earlier this month: “We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready now. They are on the side of war.”Rutte is far from alone in warning about Russia’s expansionist ambitions.The head of Britain’s armed forces Richard Knighton is expected to call for a “whole society” approach to defence on Monday amid the growing likelihood of Russia invading a Nato country.European leaders are also meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Berlin this week for further peace talks.Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the war, and blames Ukraine for the slow progress – especially after the Kremlin appeared to support a very pro-Russia US draft of a peace agreement last month.But Western leaders are anxious to make sure Kyiv is not forced into a deal where it gives up all of its sovereignty.Related...Moscow Threatens British Soldiers In Ukraine While Nato Chief Warns: We Are Russia s Next Target Here s What Is Expected To Be In Ukraine s Proposed Peace PlanPutin Is Telling Trump That Russian Victory In Ukraine Is Inevitable. Experts Know It s Not

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