Putin: NATO Backing of Ukraine Threatens Russia

On Tuesday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin insisted that the existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military networks in Ukraine poses a serious threat to Russia.

This came just two days after the U.S. defense secretary staged a show of support for Ukraine and encouraged its aspiration to join NATO.

Commenting on this issue, Putin said: “Formal membership (of Ukraine) in NATO may not take place, but military development of the territory is already underway,” emphasizing that this approach really poses a threat to Russia. "We are aware of that,” he noted.

In his address to the plenary session of the 18th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin also accused NATO of causing the current situation in Afghanistan, Russian, saying, "While the participation of both China and Russia and other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries is important, those countries that were fighting there (in Afghanistan) for 20 years bear primary responsibility for what is happening there."