Russia's objective is to stop the war unleashed by Ukraine in 2014, says Putin.
In February 2022, Putin announced the military operation in Ukraine based on a request from the leaders of the Donbass republics.
TASS - Moscow did not start a war in 2022. Its goal is to stop the war that Ukraine unleashed in 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Tucker Carlson published on the American journalist's website.
"The situation reached a point where the Ukrainian side began preparing for military action. They were the ones who started the war in 2014. Our goal is to stop this war. And we managed to prevent this war from starting in 2022. This is an attempt to stop it," he emphasized.
Speaking about the Minsk Agreements, Putin noted that they “were complicated for Ukraine.” “They included many elements of independence for the Donbass territories. That’s true. However, I was absolutely confident – and I’m telling you this now – I honestly believed that if we could convince the residents of Donbass, and we had to work hard to convince them to return to the Ukrainian state, then gradually the wounds would begin to heal. When this part of the territory reintegrated into a common social environment, all the pieces would gradually fall into place,” he continued. “Nobody wanted that. Everyone wanted to resolve the issue only by military force, but we couldn’t allow that to happen,” the Russian president concluded.
On February 24, 2022, Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine based on a request from the leaders of the Donbass republics to demilitarize and denazify the country.