Berliner Boersenzeitung - Putin accuses West of threatening Russia through Ukraine

EUR -
AED 4.164523
AFN 78.988586
ALL 98.485642
AMD 435.657663
ANG 2.029183
AOA 1040.282773
ARS 1342.484707
AUD 1.765344
AWG 2.042303
AZN 1.930105
BAM 1.956525
BBD 2.288028
BDT 138.470112
BGN 1.957208
BHD 0.427428
BIF 3373.020681
BMD 1.133825
BND 1.462729
BOB 7.829765
BRL 6.436496
BSD 1.13321
BTN 96.999104
BWP 15.220508
BYN 3.708442
BYR 22222.976398
BZD 2.276224
CAD 1.565818
CDF 3248.40989
CHF 0.934119
CLF 0.027737
CLP 1064.492053
CNY 8.168416
CNH 8.159534
COP 4671.099565
CRC 575.708346
CUC 1.133825
CUP 30.046371
CVE 110.305892
CZK 24.913881
DJF 201.80104
DKK 7.458648
DOP 66.895389
DZD 149.842957
EGP 56.368358
ERN 17.00738
ETB 151.635739
FJD 2.565285
FKP 0.840674
GBP 0.841174
GEL 3.10646
GGP 0.840674
GHS 11.615101
GIP 0.840674
GMD 81.635322
GNF 9818.553292
GTQ 8.70315
GYD 237.092531
HKD 8.891929
HNL 29.524945
HRK 7.535968
HTG 148.193631
HUF 403.610073
IDR 18509.868528
ILS 3.973262
IMP 0.840674
INR 97.003402
IQD 1484.450308
IRR 47762.392235
ISK 144.199675
JEP 0.840674
JMD 180.636965
JOD 0.803915
JPY 163.011771
KES 146.456256
KGS 99.153393
KHR 4538.642515
KMF 492.653529
KPW 1020.443997
KRW 1562.989864
KWD 0.347903
KYD 0.944342
KZT 579.359668
LAK 24484.860964
LBP 101531.348275
LKR 339.382821
LRD 226.632017
LSL 20.292944
LTL 3.347892
LVL 0.68584
LYD 6.207301
MAD 10.4776
MDL 19.660115
MGA 5181.875298
MKD 61.553476
MMK 2380.664234
MNT 4055.567252
MOP 9.154413
MRU 44.795384
MUR 51.884139
MVR 17.529231
MWK 1964.945766
MXN 21.863882
MYR 4.826126
MZN 72.462643
NAD 20.293123
NGN 1801.341997
NIO 41.705093
NOK 11.53276
NPR 155.198166
NZD 1.902695
OMR 0.435962
PAB 1.1332
PEN 4.104786
PGK 4.65291
PHP 63.205656
PKR 319.469715
PLN 4.249407
PYG 9054.356589
QAR 4.130595
RON 5.060832
RSD 117.189922
RUB 88.999071
RWF 1602.680003
SAR 4.253753
SBD 9.468311
SCR 16.118838
SDG 680.860928
SEK 10.864155
SGD 1.463451
SHP 0.891009
SLE 25.760575
SLL 23775.750425
SOS 647.634376
SRD 42.185064
STD 23467.895073
SVC 9.915588
SYP 14741.680532
SZL 20.286342
THB 37.233123
TJS 11.332751
TMT 3.974058
TND 3.387756
TOP 2.655537
TRY 44.49221
TTD 7.694785
TWD 33.86507
TZS 3058.498762
UAH 47.07472
UGX 4119.490826
USD 1.133825
UYU 47.189367
UZS 14468.93811
VES 107.539392
VND 29530.480627
VUV 137.026643
WST 3.13727
XAF 656.188684
XAG 0.034271
XAU 0.000344
XCD 3.064219
XDR 0.816074
XOF 656.200263
XPF 119.331742
YER 276.483193
ZAR 20.289408
ZMK 10205.78172
ZMW 30.170653
ZWL 365.091293
  • RYCEF

    0.0500

    11.58

    +0.43%

  • BCC

    1.1200

    87.85

    +1.27%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.09

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0700

    10.36

    +0.68%

  • CMSD

    0.0600

    22.11

    +0.27%

  • RIO

    0.2500

    60.2

    +0.42%

  • NGG

    -0.1000

    72.57

    -0.14%

  • RBGPF

    -0.2380

    65.43

    -0.36%

  • BTI

    -0.1200

    44.97

    -0.27%

  • GSK

    0.8200

    40

    +2.05%

  • JRI

    0.0400

    12.78

    +0.31%

  • VOD

    -0.0500

    10.34

    -0.48%

  • BCE

    0.3400

    21.5

    +1.58%

  • BP

    0.2300

    29.17

    +0.79%

  • RELX

    -1.1200

    53.93

    -2.08%

  • AZN

    0.4900

    70.87

    +0.69%

Putin accuses West of threatening Russia through Ukraine
Putin accuses West of threatening Russia through Ukraine

Putin accuses West of threatening Russia through Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin warned Monday that Western powers were using Moscow's feud with Ukraine to threaten Russia's own security and said he was considering recognising the independence of two breakaway Russian-backed regions.

Text size:

Openly backing the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine would effectively put to an end an already shaky peace plan and dramatically increase the likelihood of an all-out Russian invasion.

Moscow appeared to be already laying the groundwork for such an operation by claiming -- to furious Kyiv denials -- that its forces had intercepted and killed five Ukrainian saboteurs who infiltrated Russian territory, and accusing Ukraine of shelling a border post.

The claim and counterclaim undermined efforts by European leaders to broker a diplomatic resolution, by urging Putin to hold a summit with his US counterpart Joe Biden, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did say he would meet his US counterpart on Thursday.

Putin made his declaration as he opened a carefully stage-managed meeting of Russia's national security council with made-for-television opening remarks.

- Security or confrontation? -

"Our goal is to listen to our colleagues and determine our next steps in this direction, bearing in mind both the appeals of the leaders of the DNR (Donetsk People's Republic) and LNR (Lugansk People's Republic) to recognise their independence," Putin said.

"The use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with our country poses a serious, very big threat to us," Putin said, adding that Moscow's priority was "not confrontation, but security".

Ukraine and Washington, however, now expect confrontation.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told NBC news that a Russian invasion of its neighbour would be an "extremely violent" operation followed by a brutal occupation.

"It will be a war waged by Russia on the Ukrainian people to repress them, to crush them, to harm them," the White House official said.

Reflecting the gravity of the situation, which Western leaders have dubbed the worst threat to peace in Europe since the Cold War, stocks listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange fell steeply by around 10 percent.

Western powers have threatened a crippling sanctions package if Russia invades.

- 'Crush them, harm them' -

The Kremlin has dispatched a huge force to Ukraine's border -- US intelligence says it is more than 150,000-strong and poised to attack -- and on Monday the military said it had killed five infiltrators in the Rostov region, near Russia's border with rebel-held Ukraine.

"As a result of clashes, five people who violated the Russian border from a group of saboteurs were killed," the military said in a statement.

This followed an earlier claim that a shell fired from Ukraine had destroyed a shed at a Russian border post, and repeated claims that Kyiv's forces are shelling the pro-Russian enclave or plotting to attack it.

Kyiv, concerned that Russia is building a narrative to justify an invasion, immediately denied all the allegations, which are being widely broadcast on Russian state media, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter.

"No, Ukraine did NOT: attack Donetsk or Lugansk, send saboteurs or APCs (armoured personnel carriers) over the Russian border, shell Russian territory, shell Russian border crossing, conduct acts of sabotage," he said.

"Ukraine also does NOT plan any such actions. Russia, stop your fake-producing factory now," he wrote.

Mounting concern over an invasion quickly overshadowed a French diplomatic initiative, backed by Germany, to push for a summit between Putin and Biden.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It's premature to talk about any specific plans for organising any kind of summits" adding that no "concrete plans" had been put in place.

A French presidential official later called on Putin to make a quick decision on the meeting, calling the situation "very dangerous".

"It is today possible to move towards a summit... it is up to President Putin to make his choice," the source said.

Visiting Brussels, Kuleba gave a cautious welcome to the French effort. "We believe that every effort aimed at a diplomatic solution is worth trying," he said.

But Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said there was no sign of Russian forces withdrawing from the border and that Moscow-backed rebels continue to shell Ukrainian positions.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow-backed separatists hold an enclave in the eastern distracts of Lugansk and Donetsk.

In recent weeks, according to US intelligence, Moscow has massed an invasion force of troops, tanks, missile batteries and warships around Ukraine's borders in Belarus, Russia, Crimea and the Black Sea.

burs-dc/mm/gw

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)