Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance as unacceptable for Russia during a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Beijing.
“As for Ukraine’s membership in the EU – we have never objected to it. As for NATO – this is a different issue. Here we are talking about the security of the Russian Federation, and not just today, not in the medium term, but in the long term. Our position here is known: we consider it unacceptable for us,” Putin said.
The Russian leader noted the existence of a dialogue on providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
“There are options here to ensure Ukraine’s security in case the conflict ends. This was also the subject of our discussion [with US President Donald Trump – ed.] in Anchorage. And I think there is a possibility to find a consensus here,” Putin added.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin confirmed the reliability of Russian energy supplies to Slovakia.
