MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that security assurances the West is considering for Ukraine would be a dangerous mistake that would impinge on Russia’s own security and expose Europe to greater risks for many years ahead.
G7 countries are expected on Wednesday to announce an international framework that would pave the way for long-term security assurances for Ukraine to boost its defences against Russia and deter future aggression, officials said.
Moscow says shoring up its own security in the face of what it casts as an ever-expanding NATO and a hostile militarised Ukraine was one of the main reasons why it last year launched what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the proposed security assurances for Kyiv were a mistake which Moscow would be forced to factor into its future decision-making.
“We consider this move to be badly mistaken and potentially very dangerous,” Peskov told reporters.
“Because by providing any kind of security guarantees for Ukraine, these countries would be ignoring the international principle on the indivisibility of security. By providing guarantees to Ukraine, they would be impinging on the security of the Russian Federation,” he said.
It was impossible for Russia to tolerate anything that threatened its own security, Peskov added, saying he hoped that politicians in the West would realise the risks attached to providing Ukraine with such assurances.
Such a move “is fraught with highly negative consequences in the medium, long and even short term,” said Peskov.
“By taking such a decision, these countries will make Europe much more dangerous for many many years to come. And of course they will do a disservice to us, something we will take into account and keep in mind in future.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
