Putin demands West's guarantees on Ukraine

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS－Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Moscow will insist on Western guarantees precluding NATO's expansion to Ukraine.

Putin stated his position as the European Union adopted sanctions against the Russian private military company Wagner, amid its "concerns" over an alleged Russian military buildup along Ukraine's eastern borders.

In Monday's call with Johnson, Putin reaffirmed Moscow's concern about the "development of Ukraine's territory" by NATO's members, saying that it "poses a direct threat to Russia's security".

US President Joe Biden last week warned of "severe consequences" if Moscow attacks its neighbor.

Putin has denied plans of launching an attack, but prodded Western leaders to provide a legal pledge that NATO wouldn't expand to Ukraine.

He gave Johnson specific examples of how authorities in Kiev undermined the implementation of the Minsk agreements, "which are an uncontested basis for resolving the internal crisis in Ukraine".

Since Crimea joined Russia through a referendum in 2014, more than seven years of fighting between Kiev and militias in eastern Ukraine has killed over 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine's industrial heartland in the Donbass region.

Moscow has bristled at NATO's joint drills with Ukrainian forces and warned that the alliance's expansion to Ukraine would represent a "red line" for Russia.

In the call with Johnson, Putin emphasized the need to "immediately begin negotiations to work out clear international legal agreements that would exclude" any further eastward expansion by the alliance "and the deployment of weapons threatening Russia in neighboring countries, primarily in Ukraine".

The Kremlin said Russia will soon submit a draft document outlining the demands.

Johnson followed Biden in warning Moscow against attacking its neighbor. His office said he "recognized the importance of dialogue on international and regional security".

Latest measure

The latest EU sanctions will cover Wagner itself, three companies with links to the group and eight individuals, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, said at a news conference following a meeting of the foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states.

The listed individuals and entities will be subject to an asset freeze in the EU, and a travel ban to nations in the bloc. They will be prohibited from making funds available, either directly or indirectly, to those listed.

The latest measure was announced after G7 foreign ministers gathered in Liverpool, England, from Friday to Sunday.

The EU ministers also signaled their readiness to impose huge new measures targeting Russia's economy if the troop buildup near the Ukrainian border leads to direct military action.

Berlin holds one of the most important cards in the sanctions deck, if it decides that Putin's actions warrant blocking the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Asked about the threat to Ukraine before heading to Brussels, Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, told ZDF television that "in the event of further escalation, this gas pipeline could not come into service".

The EU wants to present its eastern neighbors with a united front against what it sees as Russia's destabilizing meddling in the region, a senior European diplomat told Agence France-Presse.

Dmitry Mezentsev, state secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, said Brussels needs to listen to Moscow and Minsk, while sanctions will not benefit the EU itself.

Mezentsev, who was former secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said the West is increasing sanctions because Moscow and Minsk are unwilling to stop protecting their own national interests.

"The sanctions are based on the unfair assessment of the steps that our countries take to protect our sovereignty and the right to determine our development path in accordance with the opinion of the Belarusian and Russian people rather than in a bid to satisfy our so-called Western partners," he said.

Agencies - China Daily - Xinhua