MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish and French counterparts on Tuesday that he wants “immediate” talks with the United States and NATO over security guarantees, the Kremlin said, as tensions mount over Ukraine.
Putin “reiterated the need to immediately launch negotiations with the United States and NATO in order to develop international legal guarantees for the security of our country,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, with demands including stopping NATO from expanding further east and the deployment of weapons in neighboring states, including Ukraine.
As of the phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, “the Russian president emphasized the importance of immediately launching international negotiations to develop legally fixed guarantees that would prevent any further NATO expansion to the east and the deployment of weapons to neighboring states, primarily in Ukraine, that threaten Russia,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin made a similar demand during virtual talks with U.S. President Joe Biden last week and in a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
