Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is not preparing for war with Europe and called European statements about a threat of war with Russia “political schizophrenia.” Speaking to Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin, he said the peoples of Europe do not want to fight Russia and that Russia does not want to fight Europe either. He added, “This too shall pass.”
Putin said that in contacts with Washington, Moscow agreed to be ready to resume Russia-US-Ukraine talks focused on the security of Russia and Ukraine once peace is achieved. He said US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff stated at an October 21 meeting that discussion of the future security of Ukraine and Russia would also require addressing the European security architecture, and that he agreed. Moscow will monitor the situation in the coming days before talks scheduled for November.
He said Russia has called for a peaceful solution since the first days of the conflict in 2014 and referred to the Minsk agreements, saying Kiev refused to reach an agreement with the part of Ukraine that did not accept what he called a coup. He said Russia does not want war and that it is Kiev that wants to go to war with Moscow. He argued that waging war to weaken Russia cannot be Ukraine’s national idea, that defeating Russia on the battlefield is impossible and that a strategic defeat is improbable. He said Russia remains ready to seek agreements, but if Kiev wants a different solution Moscow will continue what it calls its special military operation and pursue its goals.
On the Ukrainian army, Putin said citizens are being picked up off the streets and forcibly conscripted, which he said is lowering motivation. He said motivated nationalist formations still exist, but that people rounded up by force are being sent to the front. He accused Ukrainian authorities and Western sponsors of treating Ukrainians as expendable. He said about 500,000 servicemen have deserted, that more than 300,000 criminal cases have officially been opened, and that the real figure may be higher.
Putin said lands lost by Kiev are historically Russian and that it is inappropriate to speak of territorial losses after residents of Donbass and Novorossiya voted for independence and reunification with Russia, while calling the issue debatable. He also said Russians and Ukrainians are genetically one people, while expressing respect for a historical political division and saying that everything is negotiable.