Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that NATO’s unplanned exercises in the Black Sea pose a serious challenge to Moscow and that Russia has nothing to do with the crisis on Belarus, a close ally of the European Union.
“The United States and its NATO allies are conducting unplanned exercises in the Black Sea. “Not only with a fairly strong naval team, but also with the air force, including strategic aviation,” Putin said in an interview with Russian television, which was posted on the Kremlin’s website.
Putin also denied any responsibility for the immigration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland, where thousands of migrants have been gathering for days. “I want everyone to know. “We have nothing to do with it,” the president told Vesti, after several Westerners accused him this week of orchestrating Minsk with the sending of these migrants to the border.
In comments posted on the Kremlin’s website, Putin said he hoped Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would speak directly about the crisis and that migrants mainly wanted to go to Germany.
Putin also said he had not been briefed by Lukashenko on the possible termination of Russian gas transit to Europe, adding that he would speak to his Belarusian counterpart about the report from Minsk. Mr Lukashenko said on Thursday that before the EU imposed sanctions on Minsk, it would have to take into account the gas and products it receives through Belarus.
“It simply came to our notice then. “I have spoken to Alexander Grigorievich (Lukashenko) twice in the last two years and he has never said that to me, not even a hint,” Putin told Rossiya 24. “But it is possible. Although there is nothing good about it, of course I will talk to him about it. “Unless he said it while boiling,” Putin added.
New satellite images taken on Monday confirm recent reports that Russia is re-assembling troops and military equipment on its border with Ukraine.
The United States has issued a warning to the European Union that Russia could consider invading Ukraine, according to TIME, as tensions between Moscow and the euroblock escalate over both immigration and energy supplies.
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