ISTANBUL
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said America’s “use of color revolutions” and its support for the 2014 Maidan Revolution, mass protests which led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, led to the Ukraine war.
“I don’t want to disturb the gracious atmosphere of the presentation of credentials, and I know that you may not agree with my opinion, but I cannot but say today that the use of tools by the US in its foreign policy such as supporting the so-called color revolutions, support in this regard for the coup d’etat in Kyiv in 2014 ultimately led to the current Ukrainian crisis,” Putin told US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy at the presentation of credentials by foreign ambassadors.
Putin said the US policy also negatively contributed to the degradation of Russia-US relations, adding that there currently is a “deep crisis” in relations between Moscow and Washington, which “global security and stability directly depend on.”
According to Putin, the crisis in Russia-US relations is based on “fundamentally different approaches to the formation of the modern world order,” adding that Moscow has always advocated building relations with the US on the principles of equality and respect, and will continue to do so.
While addressing the new Danish ambassador to Moscow, Jakob Henningsen, Putin said he hopes Copenhagen will accept Russia’s proposal to establish an independent international commission to investigate last year’s Nord Stream pipeline explosions.
Danish authorities, along with Germany and Sweden, are investigating the undersea explosions that sparked leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea last September.
Russia has called for an international UN-led inquiry into the “sabotage” and identify who was to blame, but the request has not been supported by the Security Council.
Putin also noted that relations between Russia and the EU have seriously deteriorated. Addressing the head of the bloc’s delegation, he said the EU’s abandonment of its original function of developing economic cooperation and European integration, as well as initiating “a geopolitical confrontation with Russia” was the reason behind it.
