“I said this at the beginning of the operation and I spoke before this decision was made, a difficult decision without any doubt,” Putin said in response to a question about how the military operation in Ukraine would end.
According to the head of state, the goals of the Russian operation in Ukraine are the denazification and demilitarization of the country, giving it a neutral status. It will lead to the fact that “they won’t get together in NATO anymore.”
On February 21, Russia recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR. On February 22, Vladimir Putin signed federal laws on the ratification of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties with these territories, including military assistance.
On February 24, Putin announced the start of a special military operation in the Donbass. He called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” The President assured that Russia has no plans to occupy Ukraine, but Moscow will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of this country. As Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov explained, NATO bases with nuclear weapons were to appear on the territory of Ukraine.