'Positive' sign US willing to engage with Russia

MOSCOW • President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Washington's willingness to discuss Russia's security proposals aimed at curbing Nato's eastward expansion was "positive", as fears mount in the West over a major military escalation in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has grown increasingly insistent that the West and Nato are encroaching dangerously close to Russia's borders. Moscow presented the West with sweeping security demands last week, saying Nato must not admit new members and barring the United States from establishing new bases in former Soviet countries.

Washington responded that it is willing to discuss the security proposals, but disagrees with part of them and insists European allies must be part of the talks.

"The ball is in their court. They need to provide us with some answer," Mr Putin said at his annual end-of-year press conference.

But he added: "Overall we see a positive reaction."

Mr Putin said Washington is ready for talks at the start of next year in Geneva, adding that representatives from both sides have been appointed.

The growing tensions peaked this week when Mr Putin vowed that Russia would take "appropriate retaliatory" military steps in response to what he called the West's "aggressive stance".

He also said a new arsenal of hypersonic missiles that he has previously described as "invincible" was nearing combat readiness.

Tensions have been building since mid-November when Washington sounded the alarm over a massive Russian troop build-up around Ukraine and accused Mr Putin of planning an invasion.

The West has long accused the Kremlin of providing direct military support to pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, who seized two regions shortly after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.

Russia denies the claims and Mr Putin has suggested that the conflict, which has claimed over 13,000 lives, is genocidal.

Mr Putin said it was impossible to have good ties with the current Ukrainian government and that President Volodymyr Zelensky had come under the influence of "radical forces".

Mr Zelensky this week said he was ready to talk with Russia "in any format", which the Kremlin has so far rejected.

Besides the growing tensions, Mr Putin yesterday addressed an unprecedented wave of arrests against voices critical of the Kremlin, saying the crackdown is aimed at curbing foreign influence.

"I remind you of what our adversaries have been saying for centuries: Russia cannot be defeated, it can only be destroyed from within," he said.

He added that it was domestic dissent that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago this month.

The press conference kicked off with Mr Putin fielding questions on the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. Rattling off facts and figures to apparently illustrate Russia's prowess, Mr Putin hailed his country's response, saying: "We have recovered much faster than others."

He expected growth of about 4.5 per cent next year, continuing Russia's 2021 rebound. That was due largely to officials avoiding strict lockdowns, a policy that some say has contributed to over 520,000 Russians dying from Covid-19, according to a count by state statistic agency Rosstat - more than in any European country.

Mr Putin called the situation worrying yesterday and complained about Russia's level of herd immunity, saying it was at 59.4 per cent - a figure calculated by counting both people who had been inoculated and infected.

The authorities have faced a vaccine-sceptic population, and Mr Putin once again urged Russians to get inoculated.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS