During a Friday phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Putin voiced his displeasure that Moscow’s demands that NATO block Ukraine from joining the alliance had been rejected by the West.
According to a readout from the Russian presidential press service, Putin stated that:
“US and NATO responses did not take account of such key Russian concerns as preventing Nato expansion, non-deployment of strike weapons systems near Russian borders, or returning the alliance’s military potential and infrastructure in Europe to positions existing in 1997,”
Putin’s first remarks since the West formally rebuffed his demands came on the same day that the head of German intelligence services claimed that he believed that Russia had not yet decided whether to attack Ukraine. “I believe that the decision to attack has not yet been made,” Bruno Kahl told Reuters.
