By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Tuesday that Russia has no option but to stand firm in a dispute with the United States about Ukraine. He also said that he would force Russia into a hard response if the West did not drop its aggressive line.

Putin spoke to the military as Russia requested an urgent response by the U.S., NATO to the proposals made by Russia last week to secure a set of binding security guarantees from the West.

“What the U.S. has done in Ukraine is right at our door… They should realize that there is no other place to go. Do they think we’ll just watch idly?” Putin spoke.

We will continue to follow the Western aggressive lines and take appropriate military-technical responses.

Putin didn’t explain the exact nature of the measures, but his words mirrored those used by Sergei Ryabkov (Deputy Foreign Minister), who warned Russia that it may deploy intermediate-range nukes in Europe to counter NATO plans.

Russia denies the accusations by U.S. and Ukrainian authorities that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine next month with tens or thousands of Russian soldiers poised at its border.

According to it, it requires pledges from West – such as a promise not conduct NATO military activities in Eastern Europe – because Ukraine’s increasing ties with NATO and the potential for NATO missiles being used against Ukraine on its territory.

Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelenskiy said on Friday that he was ready to meet Russia for “direct talks, tête-à-tête, we don’t mind in what format”. Moscow repeatedly stated that it does not see the point of such a meeting if there is no clear agenda.

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin stated in a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, that he would need concrete actions from Kyiv to reconvene the four-power Normandy Group – which brings together leaders from Russia, Ukraine and France – to convene the group. Ukraine claims it is Russia and its proxy who refuse to engage.

Russia’s Western allies are keen to demonstrate their solidarity with Ukraine and NATO. Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone with Putin.

U.S. SUPPLIES

Karen Donfried is the U.S. State Department’s top diplomat for Europe. In a briefing, she stated that Washington was ready to engage bilaterally in Europe through the NATO Russia Council which met last in 2019 and via the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

She said that the United States will continue sending military equipment and supplies in the coming weeks and months to Ukraine. This has angered Moscow.

She stated that President Joe Biden had told President Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine again, we will send additional defense materials to them, above and beyond what we have already provided.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the alliance will seek to have meaningful talks with Moscow in early 2019.

Sergei Shoigu (Russian Defence Minister) claimed that 120 private U.S. military contractors were operating in Ukraine. These contractors are responsible for fighting Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine since 2014. He said the Americans were also preparing “provocation” using chemical substances. He did not provide any supporting evidence.

Russia has alternated between harsh rhetoric, pleas for dialogue and dire warnings throughout the crisis. Ryabkov often compared the situation to 1962’s Cuban missile crisis which saw the world on the verge of nuclear war.

Washington and its partner view many of their demands as non-starters, including a blocking of NATO membership for Ukraine.

Rejecting them would mean closing down any possibility of dialogue, and further fuelling crisis.