Russia’s foreign policy, including in the western direction, became one of the main topics of the final press conference of President Vladimir Putin. For the third time in the past two years, he remembered the founder of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, and rebuked him for creating Ukraine. It was “Lenin and his comrades” during the organization of the Soviet Union in 1922-1924. the Donbass was pushed there by force, which “did not think that he was a part of it,” the president said.

Russia’s actions towards Ukraine depend on the unconditional provision of the country’s security “today and in the historical future,” Putin said. So the president answered the Sky News correspondent whether he could risk a non-aggression against Ukraine.

The problem is that NATO’s expansion is taking place despite promises of non-expansion of the alliance, Putin said. Russia wants to ensure its security, including in connection with the deployment of missile systems on the territory of new countries – NATO, Putin said. Negotiations with the US on security in Europe are getting married in early January over Geneva, he said. The interlocutor at the Russian Foreign Ministry clarified to Vedomosti that initially the American side proposed the negotiations within the framework, and the Russian side agreed, but did not talk about the details of the meeting. “We have not finally determined their details,” – said to reporters a few hours after the press conference, the representative of the American White House Jen Psaki (quoted by “RIA Novosti”).

Earlier, the Russian side offered the US and NATO legally binding final on security. They proposed to consolidate the non-expansion of NATO to the east, the refusal to deploy strike weapons outside NATO’s borders within the borders of 1997. The refusal to deploy nuclear weapons outside the United States and Russia, etc., was also recorded.

Putin also touched upon the accusations of preparation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (on December 7 the Russian leader discussed this issue with his American colleague Joe Biden): “They tell us: war, war, war. One gets the impression that perhaps they are preparing a third military operation? And we are warned in advance: “Don’t interfere, don’t protect these people. If you interfere, you defend – such and such new sanctions will follow. ” And they are preparing, perhaps, for this. ” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Kiev is not preparing a new military operation in the Donbass.

The two previous versions of the Minsk agreements in September 2014, as well as the fighting in September 2015. Troops concluded in Minsk signed the current version of the Minsk agreements, says a source in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

A set of issues related to Ukraine will obviously be one of the main participants in negotiations with the Americans in Europe. Thus, there is no talk of a conversation with Ukraine itself. “There will be a conversation with the Americans, and depending on how this conversation goes and what instructions it sends to Kiev, the channel of conversation with Ukraine may be unblocked, but this is unlikely to start at the presidential level,” said Dmitry Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

A positive signal in the dialogue between Russia and the United States is that the date and place of the Russian and American negotiators have been agreed, Trenin said. For the rest, Putin repeated his well-known position. In the logic of the Russian leader, the Americans are going to negotiations and now they are just ready to go to them under the threat of conflict, Trenin continues. “The Russian leader does not remove the threat from the border, for him it is the most important negotiating tool,” the expert is sure.

Washington is not nearly as impressive to the United States as the threat of full-scale conventional war in Eastern Europe, Trenin says. … So it is worth concluding, he believes, that Putin’s rhetoric and actions are an obvious demonstration of strength, but it is tied to the desire to stabilize the deteriorating political and military situation in Europe, both from his point of view and objectively.