Putin warns U.S. not to ‘blackmail’ Russia over Ukraine crisis

President Vladimir Putin has warned Washington that a spat between nuclear powers over the Ukraine crisis could threaten global stability and said in remarks published on Wednesday that Russia would not be “blackmailed” by sanctions. Taking a tough line on the eve of talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Milan, Putin said the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union over Moscow’s role in the crisis were hindering peace moves. “We hope that our partners will realise the recklessness of attempts to blackmail Russia, will remember the risks that a spat between major nuclear powers incurs for strategic stability,” he told Serbian newspaper Politika.

For our part, we are ready to develop constructive cooperation on the principles of equality and real consideration of mutual interests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a post-Cold War low over Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, though Moscow denies sending troops and weapons to back them. Russia says the West was behind the removal of a pro-Russian president in Ukraine in February and that the takeover of Crimea was justified after it voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

Politics putin