President Vladimir Putin attended a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that includes some former Soviet states, in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on Thursday, where he claimed Moscow was planning an attack on Europe, calling it “ridiculous.”
“The truth is, we had no intention of doing so. But if they want to hear from us, we will document it. There is no doubt about it,” the Russian president told reporters, as reported by Al Jazeera.
In response to a question about efforts to end the war in Ukraine, President Putin expressed optimism about the U.S.-backed draft peace plan, saying it could become “the basis for a future agreement.”
He reiterated that a basic precondition for ending the fighting is the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, including leaving areas not currently controlled by Russian forces.
“Ukrainian forces must withdraw from the territories they currently occupy, and then the fighting will stop. If they do not withdraw, we will achieve this by military means,” he said.
MNA