Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Ukraine crisis arose because of a "coup" in Kiev in 2014, which, he said, was "provoked by the West,” adding that Western attempts to draw the country into NATO further escalated tensions.
“This crisis did not arise as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but as a result of the coup d’etat in Ukraine, which was supported and provoked by the West, and then by attempts to use armed forces to suppress the resistance of those regions and people who did not accept this coup,” Putin told the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin.
He said the political leadership in Kiev that opposed NATO membership was removed after 2014, stressing that Western efforts to push Ukraine into the alliance posed a “direct threat” to Russian security.
Putin said Moscow seeks a “long-term and sustainable” resolution to the Ukraine crisis by addressing what he called its root causes.
The Russian leader also described the SCO as a “powerful locomotive” for establishing genuine multilateralism, and said models of world order dominated by North America and Europe “are becoming a thing of the past.”
“A system that would replace the obsolete Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models and take into account the interests of the widest possible range of countries would be truly balanced, and would not allow some states to ensure their security at the expense of others,” he said.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “the only one who wants this war is Russia – that is why we will keep up the pressure.”
He accused Moscow of trying to prolong the war despite global calls for a ceasefire.
“Now, during his visit to China, Putin will once again try to wriggle out. That is his number one sport,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
Following his face-to-face meeting last month with US President Donald Trump in the US state of Alaska, Putin said he discussed the outcome of the summit, which he described as an attempt to "open a road to peace in Ukraine," with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Russia will evaluate proposals of China and India on Ukraine, he added.
Meanwhile, Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Tianjin on Monday. The two discussed the Ukraine war as Modi welcomed "all the efforts to achieve peace."
Moscow launched a “special military operation” against Kiev in February 2022, and the armed conflict has continued since, resulting in thousands of deaths and millions of people displaced in Ukraine.
