MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow had never opposed Ukraine’s potential membership of the European Union, and that he thought it was possible to find a consensus on ensuring the security of both Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking in China during a visit, Putin said claims by European leaders that Russia would one day attack deeper into Europe were “hysteria” and “horror stories”.
In the case of Ukraine in 2022, Russia was forced, said Putin, to react to what he called the West’s attempt with the help of the NATO military alliance to try to absorb the entire post-Soviet space given its security implications for Moscow.
“As for Ukraine’s membership of the EU, we have never objected to this,” Putin told Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at talks in China. “As for NATO, this is another issue.”
Putin said that he had discussed Ukraine’s security at his August 15 summit in Alaska with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“There are options for ensuring Ukraine’s security in the event of an end to the conflict,” Putin said. “And it seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus here.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge/Lucy Papachristou; editing by Andrew Osborn)
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