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<blockquote data-quote="Frank Underwood" data-source="post: 420208" data-attributes="member: 35">Nine days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the BBC released an article in which Putin stated his demand for not going to war.&nbsp; Not surprisingly, he didn&#039;t want Ukraine to join NATO because he saw NATO expansion as a threat to Russia.&nbsp; However, NATO rejected his demand.&nbsp; Putin was concerned that NATO wasn&#039;t taking Russia&#039;s security concerns seriously.&nbsp; Considering NATO expanded after George H.W. Bush&#039;s Secretary of State promised that NATO wouldn&#039;t expand &quot;one inch eastward,&quot; I&#039;d say he was right.Putin also cited what he called a &quot;genocide&quot; against ethnic Russians in Ukraine&#039;s Donbas region.When asked about the prospect of war, Putin said: &quot;Do we want this or not? Of course, not. That is exactly why we put forward proposals for a process of negotiations.&quot;&nbsp; Apparently, those negotiations failed.&nbsp; It&#039;s fair to question Putin&#039;s credibility, but there are clear provocations from the 2014 US-backed coup in Ukraine to NATO expansion that led to the invasion.&nbsp; That doesn&#039;t justify Putin&#039;s illegal action, but I do believe he felt threatened that The West were attempting to use NATO and Ukraine against him.<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60392259" target="_blank">Ukraine crisis: Putin says he does not want war in Europe</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Frank Underwood, post: 420208, member: 35"] Nine days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the BBC released an article in which Putin stated his demand for not going to war. Not surprisingly, he didn't want Ukraine to join NATO because he saw NATO expansion as a threat to Russia. However, NATO rejected his demand. Putin was concerned that NATO wasn't taking Russia's security concerns seriously. Considering NATO expanded after George H.W. Bush's Secretary of State promised that NATO wouldn't expand "one inch eastward," I'd say he was right. Putin also cited what he called a "genocide" against ethnic Russians in Ukraine's Donbas region. When asked about the prospect of war, Putin said: "Do we want this or not? Of course, not. That is exactly why we put forward proposals for a process of negotiations." Apparently, those negotiations failed. It's fair to question Putin's credibility, but there are clear provocations from the 2014 US-backed coup in Ukraine to NATO expansion that led to the invasion. That doesn't justify Putin's illegal action, but I do believe he felt threatened that The West were attempting to use NATO and Ukraine against him. [URL='https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60392259']Ukraine crisis: Putin says he does not want war in Europe[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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