Vladimir Putin has vowed to maintain “tension” with the west over Ukraine and complained that Moscow’s red lines on regional security were being dismissed, days after the US warned over a Russian troop surge at the border.
Speaking to an audience of foreign policy officials on Thursday, the Russian president also said Russia would react “appropriately” to what he described as “provocative” activity by the west in Ukraine. This included supplies of weaponry to Kyiv’s army and recent snap drills in the Black Sea he claimed involved strategic bomber flights carrying nuclear weapons 20km from the Russian border.
“Our recent warnings have been noticed and are having an effect. There’s a certain tension there,” Putin said. “We need that condition to remain for as long as possible, so they don’t get it in their heads to start some conflict we don’t need on our western borders.”