Putin: We were deceived on the promise of “NATO not expanding eastward”

On June 27, Russian President Putin told the media after attending the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Belarus that Russia was deceived on the promise of “NATO not expanding eastward”.

On June 27, Putin answered reporters’ questions after attending the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Belarus.

Regarding the issue of NATO increasing the proportion of military expenditure, Putin emphasized that NATO expanded its military and prepared for war on the grounds of “Russia’s aggressiveness”, but this aggressiveness does not exist, and it is actually NATO itself that is aggressive. Putin also announced that the “unilateral concession game” with the West has ended.

Putin: Russia and Ukraine will hold the third round of negotiations

Russian President Putin said in Minsk, Belarus, on the 27th local time that after implementing the agreement reached with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine will hold the third round of negotiations, and Russia is ready for this.

Putin attended the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Minsk that day. At a press conference held after the meeting, he said that the heads of the Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams maintained close contact and called each other, and the theme of the next round of negotiations will be the discussion of the draft memorandum on the two countries’ conflict resolution plan.

Putin said that the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine is of great significance and has created conditions for the two sides to have substantive discussions on the nature of the problem. He said that Russia has handed over the remains of 6,000 soldiers to Ukraine, and is preparing to hand over another 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian Defense Minister said that Ukraine plans to promote the meeting of leaders

On the same day, Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov revealed in an interview with the media that after completing the discussion on humanitarian issues, Ukraine plans to promote the meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders and hopes to start a substantive dialogue.

Andrei Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Intelligence Directorate, said on the 27th that despite many difficulties, the negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war based on the Istanbul Agreement are still progressing steadily.

On the 2nd of this month, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations held the second round of direct negotiations in Istanbul. The two sides agreed to exchange all seriously injured and seriously ill prisoners of war on the principle of “all for all”, and to exchange prisoners of war under the age of 25 and the remains of fallen soldiers on a large scale. According to the prisoner exchange agreement agreed upon in this round of negotiations, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange at least 1,000 prisoners of war each, and Russia would hand over 6,000 remains of Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine.