Putin: Fundamental Russian concerns ignored by U.S. and NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that "fundamental Russian concerns were ignored" by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over Ukraine.

At a press conference with visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow, Putin said Russia had not seen in the U.S. response "adequate consideration of our three key demands regarding (NATO's) expansion, the renunciation of the deployment of strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and the return of the (NATO) bloc's military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997, when the Russia-NATO founding act was signed."

"Ukraine itself is just a tool to reach this goal [to target Russia]. This could be done in various ways ... including by getting Russia involved in an armed conflict," Putin told reporters.

"Let's imagine that Ukraine is a NATO country and begins a military operation in Crimea, on Russia's sovereign territory. What, do we have to fight the NATO alliance? Did anyone think about that? Looks like no."

(CGTN)