Kremlin: Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO poses security threat to Russia

Ukraine’s persistent ambition to join the NATO military alliance presents a threat to Russia’s security, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, underlining the necessity to carry out what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the idea of Ukraine joining NATO was the “main threat” to Russia, which “emphasizes the relevance and urgent need to ensure our security and our national interests.”

Before Russia’s operation, Moscow was demanding legal guarantees that Ukraine never be admitted to the US-led military alliance.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the 2014 Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

Since the onset of the operation, the United States and its European allies have supplied billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Ukraine and imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.

In turn, Russia has downgraded or cut off gas supplies to Europe, triggering an energy crisis there.

Peskov played down the impact the shrinking of gas sales to Europe could have on Russia's economy.

"Europe is not the only consumer of natural gas and not the only continent that needs natural gas," the spokesman said. "There are regions developing at a much faster pace ... they can compensate for the (reduced) demand for (Russian) gas in Europe."

In a move to reduce its reliance on a global financial system dominated by the United States and its Western allies, Moscow also began the policy of barring the use of the US dollar in transactions on the Moscow Exchange, Russia's largest financial services marketplace.

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Washington after self-immolation of EU

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in an interview on Wednesday that Ukraine’s new proposal for Western security guarantees was an invitation for economic self-immolation an economic trap for EU nations set by the United States.

Maria Zakharova said most of the measures included in the proposed document which Kiev released on Tuesday “are already being implemented” by Kiev’s backers, but Washington’s EU allies are expected to pledge to keep the Ukraine aid money flowing for the foreseeable future.

If signed, the ‘Kiev Security Compact’ would mean “harsh slavery” for the bloc, from which it would not recover anytime soon, she said.

“A total commitment to supporting the Kiev regime would simply mean immolation [for the EU]. And this proposal is addressed to nations that are debating how they can live through the winter,” Zakharova said, in reference to the energy shortages that the EU struggles to confront.

The Russian official said developed EU nations face an economic and humanitarian disaster after taking directions from the White House on how to respond to the crisis in Ukraine.

The situation is ironic, she said, as the EU began as a group of nations that banded together for mutual economic benefit through the deregulation of trade. Now “they are being corralled together” so their lives will become “colder, poorer, and harder,” Zakharova said.

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