The Russian president Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his American counterpart Joe Biden had suggested to him in 2021 to “postpone its accession by 10-15 years Ukrainian at NATO».

Joining the North Atlantic Alliance has been a long-standing request of Kiev.

“In 2021, the current President Biden proposed to me exactly this: to postpone Ukraine’s accession to NATO for 10-15 years, because the country was not yet ready,” Putin said during a televised press conference.

“I answered in a logical way ‘yes, (Ukraine) is not ready today. But you will prepare it to be ready and you will accept it’ (as a member),” Putin added.

However, for Russia, “what’s the difference? today, tomorrow or in ten years?”, stressed the Russian president.

Moscow considers Ukraine’s accession to NATO a red line.

Instead, Kiev presents membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as necessary for its security vis-à-vis Russia and requests an invitation to join as soon as possible.

The Ukrainian leadership, however, has acknowledged that its accession could come after the war with Russia, triggered by the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Washington and Berlin in particular are wary of any prospect of Ukraine’s rapid accession to NATO.

In early December, the Kremlin warned again that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would constitute an “unacceptable” threat to Russia.