You cannot dismiss something as "propaganda" or with a reason "Putin said so". In the same interview Putin said that if the US had not broken the promise to Gorbachev to not expand the NATO eastward, the war would not have happened.
I am not an American with no serious understanding, I live in an area that used to be Soviet Union.
Everybody knows you should not corner a wild beast.
> In the same interview Putin said that if the US had not broken the promise to Gorbachev to not expand the NATO eastward, the war would not have happened.
Yet this contradicts his statements in 2002 that it was not a big deal and not his business. He only changed positions when he viewed the Russian economy as big enough to wage war and take territory.
There was also no such promise, this is a complete myth.
Russia is doing what it has always done: try to steal more clay. They have been doing this for a thousand years, far before NATO. Russia was neither cornered nor threatened.
It seems like you are way too invested in this and unable to think clearly. I'm sorry if it has affected you negatively, it is a terrible situation for everybody except the elites.
However, blame is never black or white. It cannot be all Russia's fault.
> However, blame is never black or white. It cannot be all Russia's fault.
Most crimes are a single party's fault. One is the criminal, and one is the victim. Saying it is impossible for it to be all Russia's fault is logically fallacious. Russia chose to invade and commit mass murder. Russia needs to be held to account for that.
This is pure ad hominem. My statements are not emotional at all. Ukraine committed no offense against Russia. Georgia committed no crime against Russia before they aided Abkhazian and South Ossetian rebels. Putin committed these offenses unilaterally against these. Russia chose to steal territory and murder hundreds of thousands of people. These are not emotional statements, they are factual ones.
It is in fact your claims which are clouded by emotionality -- obvious sympathies for Russian propaganda.
> You cannot dismiss something as "propaganda" or with a reason "Putin said so".
If provided without evidence? Yes, you can. What's presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
> Everybody knows you should not corner a wild beast.
Nobody cornered Russia, Russia decided that it wants its old colonies back. Most of them were wise enough to long before ask NATO to protect them this time, Ukraine unfortunately had trusted Russia when it said it will honor Ukraines independence and now pays a heavy price for it.
> In the same interview Putin said that if the US had not broken the promise to Gorbachev to not expand the NATO eastward
Gorbachev called that a myth in 2014 when Putin used it as an excuse to invade Crimea. USSR's minister of foreign affairs Shevardnadze and minister of defence Yazov have said the same thing. Source, excerpt from an interview to ZDF: https://twitter.com/Jesuitchild/status/1749887239226617873
This talking point is a shining example of propaganda. Gorbachev and Shevardnadze have gone as far as explaining why even in theory, such promise couldn't have been made. It's a complete fabrication.
I am not an American with no serious understanding, I live in an area that used to be Soviet Union.
Everybody knows you should not corner a wild beast.