Russian President Vladimir Putin says the country’s forces are preventing the creation of an anti-Moscow enclave on the Ukrainian territory.
Putin said Thursday efforts had been underway to turn the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas into one such enclave that poses a threat to Russia, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
“They started creating an anti-Russian enclave on the territory of today’s Ukraine that is threatening our country,” Putin said.
“Our guys, who are fighting there, are defending both the residents of Donbas and defending Russia itself,” he added.
Russia has been carrying out a “special military operation” in Ukraine since February.
The operation is aimed at “demilitarizing” Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, among other things.
Back in 2014, the republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.
Announcing the operation, Putin said the mission was aimed at “defending people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kiev regime.”
The Russian head of state also said Thursday Moscow was refusing to bow under the Western sanctions that have been targeting the country since the start of the military operation.
European countries have been trying to wean themselves off Russian energy imports as part of a whole host of punitive measures aimed at Moscow over the military operation.
Acting proactively, Moscow, itself, has also tightened its energy exports to the continent.
Also on Thursday, Alexander Novak, Russia’s senior energy official, said Moscow would stop selling oil to the countries that could seek to impose a price cap on Russian oil and petroleum products—as part of the coercive measures.
“For companies or countries that introduce limitations, we will not supply oil or oil products to them, because we will not work under non-market conditions,” he said.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
