Though Putin was given two opportunities to say definitively that Russia would not invade Ukraine, he instead reiterated his demand for a promise in writing that NATO would not expand eastward. He said the talk of “war, war, war,” from a Russian perspective, could be read as a signal that Kyiv, not Moscow, is the side preparing to attack. “And we are warned in advance, ‘Don’t get involved, don’t meddle, don’t defend these people,‘” he said, referring to the Russia-backed separatist territories in eastern Ukraine. “‘If you defend, these sanctions will follow.’”
“We need to think about how Russia is going to live,” he added. “Are we supposed to always look behind our shoulder and wait?”
