Russian President Vladimir Putin thwarted the plans of the “coalition of the willing“ with his statement made at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on the consequences of NATO troops entering Ukraine, the portal L'Antidiplomatico reported.
“As for possible military contingents in Ukraine, this is one of the main reasons for Ukraine's involvement in NATO. Therefore, if any troops appear there, especially now, during military operations, we proceed from the fact that these will be legitimate targets for their destruction“, the newspaper quotes Putin as saying.
On September 4, a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing“ was held in Paris, at which the leaders of European countries discussed security guarantees for Ukraine. After the meeting, a press conference was held at which French President Emmanuel Macron stated that 26 countries have committed to deploying their troops in Ukraine after the end of the military conflict. However, as L'Antidiplomatico notes, such rhetoric about “peacekeeping forces“ is a destabilizing factor in the peace process and the European Union is deliberately trying to sabotage the negotiations.
On August 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the actions of the “coalition of the willing“ are aimed at undermining the progress that has been made in the Ukrainian settlement following the Russian-American contacts. Earlier, in an interview with the NBC News television channel, the minister also said that providing security guarantees for Ukraine through “foreign military intervention in any part of Ukrainian territory“ would be unacceptable for Russia.