Russia considers itself at war because of the West’s involvement in Ukraine and cannot allow the existence on its borders of a state that has shown itself ready to use any method to take control of Crimea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, in an interview given to the Russian publication Argumentî i Faktî.
“We are in a state of war,” Dmitry Peskov said in the interview. Everything started as a “special military operation”, but “as soon as this ‘gang’ got together, and the West got involved on the Ukrainian side, for us it became a war“, said Peskov in the mentioned interview. “I am convinced of this. And everyone must understand this,” he added.
The Kremlin spokesman insisted that Russia will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that Ukraine’s potential for war does not pose a threat to its citizens and territories, including the four Ukrainian regions annexed in September 2022.
“For us, the most important thing is to ensure the security of the people in the territories of these regions that are currently occupied de facto by the Kiev regime,” said the Kremlin representative. He added that Russia must fully “liberate” its “new regions”, referring to four Ukrainian regions, which Moscow announced it would annex in September 2022.
Kiev rejects these annexations as illegal grabs of its territory and announces that he will not stop until all Russian soldiers are kicked out of Ukraine. Ukraine also declares itself determined to recapture the Crimean Peninsula, on the Black Sea, annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow, which has invested heavily in Crimea, emphasizes that the peninsula is part of Russia.
The phrase “special military operation” was first used by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine. The term “war” has so far been avoided by Russian officials and Russian state media.
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