Meeting Xi Jinping-Modi, Putin Affirms The Roots Of The Problem Must Be Handled For The Sake Of Ukraine Peace

Russian President Vladimir Putin / Sergey Bobylev / POOL / TASS

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin, after a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the issue of NATO expansion to the east should be addressed so that sustainable peace in Ukraine can be realized.

Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. Russia currently controls less than a fifth of Ukraine.

Ukraine and Western European countries described the invasion as the confiscation of imperial-style brutal soil.

Putin described the war as a weakened battle against the West, which he said had humiliated Russia after the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall by expanding NATO to the east.

On the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, Modi held Putin's hand as they walked towards Chinese President Xi Jinping. The three of them smiled while speaking, surrounded by translators.

Speaking at the summit, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into Western orbit and then tried to persuade the former Soviet republic to join the US-led NATO military alliance.

"In order for Ukraine's continued and long-term settlement, the root cause of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have mentioned repeatedly, must be eliminated," Putin said.

"A fair balance in the security sector" must also be restored, Putin said, abbreviating from a series of Russian demands regarding NATO and Europe's security.

At the 2008 Bucharest Summit, NATO leaders agreed Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. Ukraine in 2019 amended its constitution committed to the full membership path of NATO and the European Union.

Reuters reported in May Putin's terms to end the war included demands that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop NATO's eastward expansion and lift some sanctions against Russia.

Putin said the "understanding" he reached with US President Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska in August paved the way for peace in Ukraine, which he would discuss with leaders attending regional summits in China.

"We really appreciate the efforts and proposals from China and India aimed at facilitating the settlement of the Ukraine crisis," Putin said at the forum.

"The understanding reached at a recent Russia-US meeting in Alaska, I hope, also contributes to this goal," he continued.