MOSCOW (Reuters) – Following are extracts from a televised speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
ON UKRAINE MEMBERSHIP OF NATO
“If Ukraine was to join NATO it would serve as a direct threat to the security of Russia.”
ON ORIGINS OF MODERN UKRAINE
“Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia. This process began immediately after the revolution of 1917…
“As a result of Bolshevik policy, Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine’. He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by archive documents… And now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call decommunisation. Do you want decommunisation? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real decommunisation means for Ukraine.”
(Reporting by Moscow bureau, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jon Boyle)
