President Putin Says Russia Cannot Turn A Blind Eye To The Free Interpretation Of The US And NATO On Equal Security

JAKARTA - Russia cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the United States and NATO interpret the principle of indivisible security "quite freely and for their own benefit," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"Russia cannot turn a blind eye to how the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) interpret, quite freely and for their own benefit, the key principles of equivalent and indivisible security, which are committed to papers in many European documents," he said. President Putin as launched TASS February 15.

President Putin recalled that this principle includes not only the right to choose the means to ensure one's own security and join military unions or alliances, but also the obligation not to strengthen one's security at the expense of the security of other countries.

He noted, although under article 10 of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty the alliance was free to invite other countries, it was not obligated to do so.

Regarding his meeting with Chancellor Scholz, President Putin said the two of them had openly exchanged views on Russia's proposed security guarantees.

"We also talked about the basic demands of (Moscow), the most important of which is to stop NATO's further expansion eastward, not to deploy offensive weapons near Russia's borders and to return the bloc's military potential and infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997, when NATO -Russia Founding Act signed," concluded President Putin.