Vladimir Putin ‘doesn’t give a s**t’ about the risk of Western sanctions if his country were to invade Ukraine, Russia’s ambassador to Sweden said as US staff began withdrawing from eastern Ukraine amid warnings of an ‘imminent’ invasion.
In an outspoken interview yesterday, Viktor Tatarintsev told the country’s Aftonbladet newspaper that ‘the more the West pushes Russia, the stronger the Russian response will be’.
He claimed Russia had become more ‘self-sufficient’ amid the threat of sanctions and accused the West of not understanding his country.
‘We are more self-sufficient and have been able to increase our exports. We have no Italian or Swiss cheeses, but we’ve learned to make just as good Russian cheeses using Italian and Swiss recipes’, he said.
His comments came as dramatic photos today showed U.S. staff members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has monitored the eight-year conflict in Ukraine’s separatist east, packing up and leaving the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
They were fleeing as Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis said a Russian invasion could be ‘imminent’ and Germany warned that tensions between Russia and Ukraine have reached a ‘critical’ point.
There are an estimated 130,000 Russian troops and heavy firepower amassed along Ukraine’s border.
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Source: Daily Mail
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