The former head of the Czech Foreign Ministry and former chairman of the UN General Assembly, Jan Kavan, said that the United States ignored the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin about NATO expansion, which largely provoked Moscow to launch a special operation in Ukraine.
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“This started as the Americans ignored his warning, and a year later Putin repeated everything he said at the Munich conference in almost the same words. To my surprise, the Americans not only ignored him, but shortly thereafter promised Georgia and Ukraine membership in the alliance. In my opinion, they thereby added fuel to the fire, once again provoked Russia,” says Kavan.
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“Unfortunately, he said this already after the start of Russia’s special operation. If he had said it earlier … From my point of view, this was the last opportunity to prevent its start,” the diplomat added.
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Cavan also pointed to the United States’ commitment to double standards, citing the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the White House reacted harshly to the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
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“Putin has warned several times on international platforms that if there is a serious talk of deploying bases of the North Atlantic Alliance in Ukraine, he will regard this as a threat to Russia as such,” the source said.
