Putin: Ukraine Is to Russia What Cuba Was to America
in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
Eric Zuesse, Dec. 06, 2021
In an almost universally ignored speech by Putin, on December
1st (titled “Ceremony for presenting foreign ambassadors’ letters of credence”), he said, merely as an
aside [and I here shall add clarifications in brackets]:
By the way, the threat on
our western border [he was referring mainly to Ukraine] is
really growing, and we have mentioned it many times. It is enough to see how
close NATO military infrastructure has moved to Russia’s borders. This is more
than serious for us. [He meant that it is an existential threat
against Russia, just as the Soviet Union’s placement of nuclear weapons in Cuba
would have been an existential threat to America in 1963. But he always tries
to be non-alarmist, because his real audience regarding such matters is the
people who control U.S. foreign policies, and he doesn’t want to draw the
public’s attention to matters of existential consequence between the
superpowers.]
In this situation, we are
taking appropriate military-technical measures. But, I repeat, we are not
threatening anyone and it is at the very least irresponsible to accuse us of
this, given the real state of affairs. This would mean laying the blame at the
wrong door, as the Russian saying goes.
In my speech at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs I already stressed that the priority facing Russian
diplomacy at this juncture is to try to ensure that Russia is granted reliable
and long-term security guarantees.
While engaging in dialogue
with the United States and its allies, we will insist on the elaboration of
concrete agreements that would rule out any further eastward expansion of NATO
and the deployment of weapons systems posing a threat to us in close proximity
to Russia’s territory. We suggest that substantive talks on this topic should
be started.
I would like to note in
particular that we need precisely legal, juridical guarantees, because our
Western colleagues have failed to deliver on verbal commitments they made.
Specifically, everyone is aware of the assurances they gave verbally that NATO
would not expand to the east. But they did absolutely the opposite in reality.
In effect, Russia’s legitimate security concerns were ignored and they continue
to be ignored in the same manner even now.
We are not demanding any
special terms for ourselves. We understand that any agreements must take into
account the interests of both Russia and all other states in the Euro-Atlantic
region. A calm and stable situation should be ensured for everyone and is
needed by all without exception.
That said, I would like to
stress that Russia is interested precisely in constructive collaboration and in
equitable international cooperation, and this remains the central tenet of
Russian foreign policy. I hope that you will convey this signal to the leaders
of your states.
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