WHAT PUTIN BELIEVES and TOLD RUSSIA ABOUT THE SOVIET UNION, UKRAINE, NATO, THE WEST and U.S

“I spoke about our biggest concerns and worries and about the fundamental threats which irresponsible Western politicians created for Russia consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year” and “am referring to the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border” and “is a fact that over the past 30 years we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with the leading NATO countries regarding the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe.” “In response to our proposals, we invariably faced either cynical deception and lies or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns. Its military machine is moving and…is approaching our very border.” [Business Insider said: “At the height of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's power, the USSR and its allied Warsaw Pact countries encompassed half of Europe and almost the entirety of Central Asia. But after the demise of the USSR in 1989, lands once within Moscow's orbit quickly peeled away to join NATO.” The “North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed in 1949 to provide collective security against the threat posed by the Soviet Union.” “Today, only Belarus remains firmly within Moscow's influence, and even that partnership has teetered recently. For Putin, the peeling away of countries from Russia towards NATO comes as both an existential threat and a personal insult. As a former agent in the KGB and an avowed nationalist, Putin has dreams of resurrecting the glories of Imperial Russia - a goal that is seriously hampered by the inclusion of what Putin would deem rightful Russian lands, such as the Baltics, into the NATO alliance.” “…it is easy to see why Putin signed off on Russia's new military doctrine in December 2014. The doctrine, which placed explicit focus on NATO being Moscow's main existential enemy and threat, called on the further militarization of three geopolitical frontlines: the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad near Poland, the annexed Crimean peninsula, and the Arctic.]

Putin continues saying to Russia last month...read more