A world war would not have happened even if Russia had sunk a British destroyer off the coast of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual direct line.
"You said the world was on the brink of a world war. No, of course not. Even if we had sunk that ship, it would still be hard to imagine that the world would be on the brink of World War III, because those who are doing this know that they cannot come out victorious from this war," Putin said.
The president added that Russia, too, would hardly be happy about starting a new war. "But at least we know what we are fighting for. We are fighting on our own territory for ourselves, for our own future," he said.
Speaking about the political component of the incident with the British destroyer, Putin noted that he had met with US President Joe Biden in Geneva a few days before.
"The question is, why was there a need for such a provocation? What was it all for? For the sake of emphasizing that these people have no respect for the choice of the Crimeans to join the Russian Federation, that they do not recognize something there? Well, fine, then don't recognize it. Why carry out provocations of this kind?" noted the head of state.
Putin noted that in response to the termination of Russia's military exercises near Ukraine's borders, Western countries "came" to Russia's borders. "It was not us who came to them thousands of kilometers away, flew and came by water. It was them who came to our borders and violated our territorial sea, and this is an essential element in this whole construction," he stressed.
"Look: they made a big fuss about the fact that we were conducting exercises on our territory near the Ukrainian borders. I gave instructions to the Defense Ministry to finish slowly and withdraw the troops, if anyone is so concerned," Putin said. "We did that. But instead of responding positively and saying, 'Okay, we understand your reaction to our outrage,' instead they did what? - They came to our borders," the president expressed indignation.
"Complex provocation"
The situation with the British destroyer Defender was a complex provocation, the president said.
"It is, of course, a provocation, quite obviously. What did these provocateurs want to show and what goals were they trying to achieve? First of all, it [the provocation] was complex and was carried out not only by the British, but also by the Americans, because the "British" entered our territorial waters in the afternoon, and early in the morning, at 07:30, from one of the NATO military airfields in Greece, from Crete, I think, an American strategic reconnaissance plane took off. It was reported to me. We saw it well, we observed it," said the president.
The British destroyer's entry into Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea was for reconnaissance purposes, the Russian leader added.
"It was obvious that the destroyer went in, pursuing military goals, trying with the help of a reconnaissance plane to uncover the actions of our armed forces to suppress such provocations - watching what we have turned on, how it works, where what is. We saw this and knew it, so we gave such information that we thought was necessary," Putin said.
"Maybe I let it slip, the military will excuse me," the president added.
Putin noted that a British destroyer had entered Russian territorial waters in the afternoon, and early in the morning, at 07:30, an American strategic reconnaissance plane took off from one of the NATO military airfields in Greece, from Crete.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: DSP FSB RF / TASS
Based on materials from TASS