Putin accuses Europe of dragging Ukraine into war and stoking fear of global conflict

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, accused European countries this Wednesday of having deliberately dragged Ukraine into the war and has criticized the fact that they are inciting fear in their respective societies of a major global conflict. “This is nonsense,” he said.

The Russian threat to European countries “is a deliberate lie” that does not take into account the interests of European society, Putin said during a meeting this Wednesday with the senior staff of the Ministry of Defense, in which an assessment was made, among other issues, of this last year of war in Ukraine.

“In Europe, their citizens put into their heads the fear of an inevitable clash with Russia (…) and they are increasing the hysteria more and more,” said Putin, who has warned that the failure of any negotiations will fall on those who insist on using “the language of force” with Russia.

“The truth is that Russia has always, in the most difficult circumstances, strived to the end, wherever there was the slightest possibility, to find diplomatic solutions to contradictions and conflicts,” he assured.

“It was not us who started the war in 2022; it was the destructive forces in Ukraine, supported by the West; in essence, it was the West itself that started this war,” said President Putin.

However, the Russian president has stressed that all attempts to put an end to Russia – whether by military means, supporting “separatism and terrorism, or in the form of sanctions” – “have completely failed.”

Even so, the head of the Kremlin has expressed the willingness of the Russian authorities to negotiate with their European counterparts to “resolve peacefully all the problems that have arisen in recent years”, although he has regretted that this is unlikely due to the position he maintains of the current Western ruling class.

However, Putin has warned that Russia will resort to force to achieve “the liberation of its historical lands” – in reference to eastern Ukraine – if kyiv and “its foreign sponsors” continue to refuse to negotiate seriously.

In that sense, he celebrated that in 2025, Russian forces managed to “liberate” more than 300 towns in eastern Ukraine. “We are proud of the exploits of our soldiers fighting on the front,” he praised, also highlighting the “hundreds of thousands” of desertions that the Ukrainian Army has suffered.

The head of the Kremlin has also had a nod to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, partly supporting his idea that with him in the White House this war would not have taken place. “This could be because the previous administration deliberately provoked this armed conflict,” he said.

Putin has also had words of praise for the “North Korean comrades”, who were instrumental in the “liberation” of Kursk province. “Shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers, they fought the enemy with bravery and courage” and participated in complex mine removal work, he acknowledged.

MOSCOW ACCUSES NATO OF SEEKING CONFLICT

Who was also present at the meeting was the Minister of Defense, Andrei Belousov, who in his turn to speak warned that NATO’s latest maneuvers are aimed at a possible armed conflict with Russia.

Belousov has mentioned the increase in the Alliance’s budget and the demands on its members to invest 5 percent of GDP in defense. “All this indicates that NATO is preparing for a military confrontation with Russia” as its leaders “have repeatedly and openly declared,” he said.

“The Alliance’s plans require that we be prepared for this in the 2030s,” warned Belousov, for whom this strategy creates the necessary conditions for the war in Ukraine to continue in 2026. “They are prolonging the conflict in the hope of weakening our country as much as possible,” he said.

“The deployment of Alliance troops on the eastern flank is accelerating (…) NATO continues to strengthen its coalition forces, preparations are being made for the deployment of medium-range missiles, the list of nuclear munitions is being updated,” the Russian Defense Minister listed.

To confront this type of threats, Belousov has raised the need to continue developing “strategic nuclear forces”, key to deterring any type of aggression.

Regarding the war, he believes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are doomed to “collapse” after having lost some 500,000 troops and more than 103,000 weapons this year, being expelled from the Russian province of Kursk and giving up “important” defensive points in the region of Donbas and Zaporizhia.

“This year, the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been reduced by a third (…) they have lost almost 500,000 troops,” said the minister, who also highlighted that kyiv has lost its ability to replenish the ranks of its Army with the forced mobilization of its population.