:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/XAAA6DR24ZHSRMGYIQK76CSHME.jpg "After start of troop withdrawal, Putin says he is ready to discuss security measures with US and NATO")
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he wants to “continue working together” with Western countries on European security to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine.
“We are willing to continue working together. We are willing to follow the path of negotiation”, said at a press conference with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
The Russian president, however, criticized the Western countries’ rejection of his main demands, to which he did not receive “unfortunately a constructive response.”
These demands are the end of the expansionist policy of the Atlantic Alliance, the commitment not to deploy offensive weapons near Russian borders and the withdrawal of infrastructure from the OTAN at the borders of 1997, before the organization did not receive former members of the Soviet bloc.
Putin he also noted that he was not giving up on these demands and that they would form part of the negotiations between Russians and Westerners.
“Do we want it [una guerra] or not? Of course not. That is why we present our proposals for a negotiation process”, he reiterated.
The Russian president also confirmed “a partial withdrawal of the military” on the border with Ukraine although he declined to comment.