Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today, Tuesday (02/12/2025), that Russia does not want war with European powers, but is ready to confront it if Europe wants a direct conflict with the Moscow regime.
The Kremlin leader, who also accused the Europeans of wanting to block US efforts to end the invasion of Ukraine, threatened: “We have no intention to fight Europe, I have said it 100 times, but if Europe wants and starts, we are ready immediately.”
He added, “The Europeans are upset about being excluded from the negotiations, but they (…) withdrew themselves, and this was their initiative.”
“They do not have a peace program. They stand on the side of war,” he told reporters before an important meeting with American envoys in Moscow.
The Russian president called on European leaders to abandon “living under the illusion” that they are able to inflict a “strategic defeat on Russia” and return “to reality, based on the situation on the ground.”
Putin is scheduled to meet with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Tuesday in the Kremlin to discuss Washington’s plan to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
rr AFP/Reuters/DPA/Kiev Independent