Ukraine conflict didn't start in 2022 – Putin
The launch of Moscow’s military campaign in February of last year was not the starting point of the Ukrainian conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted. He told Chinese media that the underlying cause of the current hostilities dates back almost a decade.
In an interview with China Media Group published in full on Monday, Putin noted that the “hostilities in Ukraine did not start with our special military operation, but way before – in 2014.” He recounted how Western countries, who had acted as guarantors of an agreement between then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition, reneged and instead “supported a coup d’état.” According to the Russian head of state, while Yanukovich may well have made certain mistakes in those years, those should have been addressed “through democratic procedures, rather than by means of militants in the streets.”
Putin went on to accuse the West of starting the conflict in Donbass “by proxy of the Kiev regime,” which resulted in the deaths of women and children. He also insisted that, unlike Russia, Ukraine did not honor the Minsk Agreements, which put an end to the fighting in the east of the country.
“Therefore, the start of the special military operation was not the start of a war, but an attempt to end it,” the Russian head of state argued.
In addition, Putin pointed out that Moscow has always been ready to negotiate peace with Kiev as long as its “legitimate security interests” are respected. He added that Russia reached an agreement with Ukraine in Istanbul last year, but Kiev pulled out of it and has since effectively ruled out any such dialogue.
During the interview, the Russian head of state also lamented America’s untrustworthiness, citing its exit from the Iran nuclear deal under President Donald Trump, and its promises made earlier to Russia that NATO would not expand eastward.
President Putin also dismissed the idea of the Western ‘rules-based order,’ characterizing it as colonialism in disguise. He noted no one has ever seen those rules, with Washington apparently modifying them as it pleases, depending on the situation.
