Putin says U.S. and NATO have ‘ignored’ Russian concerns, as he publicly addresses tensions with West for first time this year

“But it is already clear that Russia’s fundamental concerns have been ignored,” Putin said. “NATO refers to the right of countries to choose freely, but you cannot strengthen someone’s security at the expense of others.”

For weeks, East-West tensions have mounted over the buildup of more than 100,000 Russian troops around Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say may be a precursor to a Russian offensive like the one that allowed Moscow to annex Crimea in 2014.

Putin forcefully reiterated Russia’s demands that the United States and NATO not expand their military alliance eastward, questioning the validity of NATO’s open-door policy that might eventually permit Ukraine’s admission.

“We’re told every country has the right to choose their own means of security. We agree with that,” he said. “But it seems to me that the United States does not care that much about Ukrainian security — maybe they think about it somewhere in the background. But their main task is to restrict the development of Russia.”

“Let’s imagine that Ukraine is a member of NATO, is stuffed with weapons, … and begins an operation in the Crimea,” Putin continued. “Do we have to fight with the NATO bloc? Has anyone thought anything about it? It seems not.”

The news conference marked the first time Putin has spoken publicly about the standoff since a year-end news conference on Dec. 23.

While Putin said Western countries had not adequately considered Russian demands on NATO enlargement and the placement of offensive weaponry, he suggested that discussions with Western nations would continue, a potential sign that the Biden administration’s effort to keep diplomacy going may bear fruit.

Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, “to follow up on the U.S. written response to Russia’s security proposals,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. A U.S. official told The Washington Post that the administration received Moscow’s response Monday, but the Kremlin denied Tuesday it had already given Washington a response.

Speaking after the phone call, Lavrov complained that the U.S. written response focused on “secondary” issues and that the U.S. reaction on the “key issue” between the two countries was “extremely negative.”

The United States and NATO “literally prioritize solely the freedom of choice of alliances, ignoring the condition that was agreed at the highest level about the inadmissibility of infringing on the security of other states,” Lavrov said.

As for the U.S. statement that it had received a written reply from Moscow, Lavrov said there was a “misunderstanding.” Both sides said Tuesday that Moscow has not yet replied fully to the United States.

“Russia has not given an answer to what seems to be the main problem nowadays,” Peskov said. “The answer is still being prepared.”

Blinken and Lavrov spoke by telephone for 30 minutes Tuesday to discuss the Ukraine crisis and the U.S. desire for de-escalation, said a senior State Department official familiar with the call. Lavrov said the Russians’ full written response to the U.S. proposal will be first sent to Putin for his approval and then delivered to the United States.

The document recently received from Russia addressed Moscow’s concerns about the “European security landscape,” which has been “codified in various documents,” the State Department official said. But that written follow-up does not constitute Russia’s full response to U.S. proposal, which will be forthcoming, the official said.

Blinken has described the U.S. proposal as something that offers the Kremlin “a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it.” But U.S. officials have said the West did not bow to Russia’s demand that NATO end its “open door policy” and bar countries such as Ukraine and Georgia from joining the military alliance.

In his call with Lavrov, Blinken “reiterated the U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the right of all countries to determine their own foreign policy and alliances,” Price said. He added that Blinken urged Russia to withdraw its troops and equipment from Ukraine’s borders and reemphasized that an attack would be met with “swift and severe consequences.”

The Kremlin, which has also demanded the removal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe, has repeatedly denied that its massive buildup of troops and military equipment near Ukraine, along with a wave of military exercises, is a precursor to a further assault.

Meanwhile, leaders from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and Canada are in Ukraine or planning to visit in the coming days.

“We continue to engage in nonstop diplomacy and to de-escalate tensions and attempt like the devil to improve security for our allies and partners and for all of Europe, for that matter,” President Biden told reporters Monday.

Orban, who leads a European Union and NATO member state, on Tuesday called his visit to Moscow a “peace mission.” He also said he is seeking to increase Hungary’s gas imports from Russia, even as some accuse Moscow of stoking an energy crisis to gain leverage over European countries.

“We like the independent approach of Hungary to securing its interests and to choosing its partners,” Peskov said Monday.

Orban, considered Putin’s closest ally within the E.U., has been mostly quiet about the Russian military buildup around Ukraine’s borders. In a weekend statement, he said he is “in favor of peace and de-escalation.”

Hungary’s opposition parties released a joint statement calling on Orban to cancel his trip because “in this tense situation, it is simply treasonous to go to Moscow.”

At the opening session of Ukraine’s Parliament on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to increase the size of the country’s armed forces by 100,000 over the next three years. Ukrainian forces currently number 250,000.

“This is the start of Ukraine’s transition to a professional army,” he said. “This decree is not because the war is coming soon — I say this to everyone — this decree is so that soon, and in the future, there will be peace in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, while hosting his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in Kyiv on Tuesday, said Britain, Poland and Ukraine are preparing a trilateral pact to strengthen regional security. Poland and Britain have offered security aid to Ukraine, but it’s unclear what this new arrangement would entail.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov wrote Tuesday on Twitter that Ukraine had received a sixth plane of military aid from the United States with “84 tons of ammunition.” U.S. shipments now add up to “about 500 tons of defense equipment, “and this isn’t the end,” he wrote.

The U.S. military has issued “prepare to deploy” orders to 8,500 personnel who are likely to be headed to Eastern Europe — Biden has ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine — although Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that a final decision had not been made.

Any deployment would be made in “close consultation” with allies in the region, Kirby said. “You can’t just unilaterally decide to throw extra U.S. forces at a country.”

Upcoming diplomacy with Russia is likely to see Britain take a reduced role. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Ukraine on Tuesday in what London is billing as a “demonstration of support,” but he reportedly had to delay a Monday call with Putin as he deals with the fallout from an investigation into Downing Street parties during the coronavirus pandemic. The call is now scheduled for Wednesday, according to Johnson’s spokesman.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was set to accompany Johnson, but she said Monday that she had contracted the coronavirus, just hours after addressing Parliament on tough sanctions that target Russian oligarchs and those close to Putin. Britain on Saturday offered to send jets, warships and military specialists to support NATO’s eastern flank.

As the West rushes support to Eastern Europe, Moscow has also increased naval activity in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The Pentagon said it was following Russian sea maneuvers “pretty closely,” though there did not appear to be hostile intent at the moment.

Russia is “clearly increasing the capabilities they have at sea should they need it,” Kirby said, adding that Putin “continues to create more options for himself from a military perspective. … We want to see him exercise a diplomatic option, which, by the way, is also still open to him.”

Pannett reported from Sydney. John Hudson in Washington contributed to this report.