Putin is ready for negotiations and NATO will not expand eastward

Hours after Russian troops were withdrawn from the border with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his country’s readiness to negotiate thorny issues with the West. A NATO leader indicated that NATO is not considering expanding eastward.

The Russian President, in a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, said that his country is ready to negotiate with the West on various thorny issues, pointing out that the responses of the United States and NATO do not respond to our security concerns.

The Russian president stressed that he did not want a war caused by Ukraine, after weeks of tension fueled by a massive deployment of Russian troops.
Do we want war or not? Certainly not. That is why we have put forward our proposals for a negotiating process.
“Russia cannot turn a blind eye to the United States and NATO’s interpretation of the principles of indivisibility of security”, he noted.

Putin considered Russia’s deterrence by force as a direct threat to the country’s national security, stressing that Russia does not want war, and therefore put forward its ideas on security, describing what happened in Donbas as genocide, According to our estimates, what is happening in Donbas today is genocide.

The German chancellor said: “We must cooperate with Russia to ensure the collective security of all countries, and I do not see that we have reached an impasse”.
He added: “The fact that we are hearing some troops have been withdrawn is in any case a good sign. We hope there will be more”, he said, stressing that diplomatic efforts to avoid a conflict were far from exhausted.
He added that NATO was not currently considering expanding eastward, apparently in reference to freezing plans to include Ukraine in the alliance.

The world stands on edge, watching developments in the crisis in Ukraine among the major nuclear powers.
Western reports had predicted that Russian troops would move to invade the former Soviet country on Wednesday.
Putin said during the press conference that he discussed with the German Chancellor the guarantees that his country sent to the United States and NATO.

He continued: We want to continue working with the West on European security, stressing that Russia does not want war with Ukraine.