Putin accuses Ukraine army of being ‘NATO foreign legion’

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin sharply ramped up his anti-Western rhetoric on Monday, accusing the Ukrainian army of being “NATO’s foreign legion” whose main purpose was to contain Russia.

Shortly after his spokesman warned the West against “blackmailing” Moscow with the threat of new sanctions over an upsurge in Ukraine violence, Putin accused Kiev of being unwilling to seek a peaceful settlement to a war that has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

“Who is really fighting there?” Putin said in televised remarks during a visit to Saint Petersburg.

“These are partly official units of the armed forces, but to a greater extent these are so-called ‘voluntary nationalist battalions’,” he said.

“In essence, this is not an army, this is a foreign legion — in this particular case NATO’s foreign legion, which of course does not pursue the objective of serving Ukraine’s national interests. There are completely different goals there,” he said, saying they aimed to achieve “Russia’s containment”

“Unfortunately, official Kiev authorities are refusing to take the path of a peaceful settlement,” he added

The Kremlin strongman also said that “many” Ukrainian men of draft age did not want to take up arms and sought to leave for Russia instead …. http://tribune.com