Foreign troops in Ukraine before peace deal will be ‘legitimate targets’: Putin

 

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine before a peace agreement has been signed would be considered “legitimate targets” by Moscow’s forces. Putin’s comments came hours after European leaders repledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force, a prospect that Moscow has repeatedly described as “unacceptable.”

 

“If any troops appear there, especially now while fighting is ongoing, we assume that they will be legitimate targets,” he said during a panel at the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Putin also dismissed the idea of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after a final peace deal, saying “no one should doubt” that Moscow would comply with a treaty to halt its 3½-year full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

 

He said that security guarantees would be needed for both Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said that Moscow would need “legally binding documents” to outline such agreements. “Of course, you can’t just take anybody’s word for something,” he told Russian news outlet Argumenty i Fakty. Putin’s comments follow remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for Ukraine once fighting ends. Macron spoke after a meeting in Paris of the so-called coalition of the willing, a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine.