‘OUR actions will not depend on negotiations they will depend on the unconditional compliance with the Russian security demands in a historic context.
‘We have made it clear that any movement of NATO to the east is unacceptable,’ Russian President Putin said yesterday at his annual end-of-year press conference.
‘There is nothing unclear about this. We are not deploying our missiles over the borders of the US. No!
‘On the other hand, the US is deploying its missiles close to our home, on the porch of our house. Are we demanding something excessive?
‘We are simply asking them not to deploy their attack systems at our home.
‘What is so particular about that.
‘This is a matter of security not just of history.
‘It is not negotiations that matter, it is the outcome. The result.
‘I have reiterated this many times and you are well aware that we have said “not an inch to the east”. That was the NATO guarantee in 1990.
‘So what became of that? They fooled us!
‘Just brazenly tricked us! Five waves of NATO expansion and now already, please, the systems are appearing in Romania and Poland.
‘You should finally understand we are not threatening anyone, we did not come to the US borders or to the UK borders, no!
‘They came to our borders and now they are also saying that the Ukraine may also join NATO and they will deploy their systems there.
‘And you are demanding some guarantees from us! You must give us the guarantees, it is up to you! You must do this immediately, right now! Instead of talking about this endlessly for decades.’
The Russian president continued: ‘We have to think about ensuring our security prospects not just for today and next week but for the near future.
‘We just directly posed the question that there should be no further NATO movement to the east, the ball is in their court, they should answer us with something. In this regard, I would like to stress that on the whole we have seen a positive reaction so far, our American partners tell us that they are ready to start this discussion.
‘The future of Donbass should be determined by the people who live in Donbass … It cannot be any other way. We see our role as mediators in creating the best conditions for determining the future of the people who live in this territory.
‘And what if we set up missiles on the border of the US and Canada? Or Mexico?
‘What would the Americans think if we decided to come to the border between Canada and the United States, or Mexico, and simply deploy our own missiles over there?
‘And who did California belong to?’ he asked, apparently referring to California being part of Mexico prior to the Mexican-American War.
‘And Texas? Did they forget that or something? Well okay, everyone has forgotten, and they don’t remember the way they now remember about Crimea.’
Putin concluded by emphasising that it was Lenin who created Ukraine when he created the Soviet Union.