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Vladimir Putin’s ambassador to the UK shared an unnerving message about the Ukraine war in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday.
Shortly before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Andrei Kelin said it would be a “grave mistake” for Ukraine’s allies to believe Moscow might lose the war.
Speaking to journalist Yalda Hakim, Kelin said: “It was a grave mistake by Western leaders to believe that Ukraine with Western assistance in money and weapons can prevail. Russia cannot be beaten at all.”
He added: “Compared with Ukraine, our political situation is stable, our economy is developing pretty quickly, our resources are enormous.”
The West issued sanctions against Russia when the war began, but Moscow has managed to prop up its economy by offering cheap oil exports to China.
Putin has just extended his crackdown on the information sphere in Russia too, by unveiling a new law to crack down on alleged “fake news” about the Russian army.
Kelin also defended Russia’s decision to withdraw troops from the capital of Kyiv at the start of the war, alleging it was “a gesture of goodwill” rather than a military defeat.
When pressed about the accusations Russia has abused human rights in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, he said it was a “totally rebuilt city” and “it is amazing how beautiful it is”.
Mariupol was put under siege shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022. Russia declared victory in the area by May, after hitting it with explosives for months. It was left in ruins.
Amid growing concerns Putin could take the war further west, the ambassador dismissed claims Russia could invade other European countries after Ukraine.
He said: “There is no interest in Poland or any other Baltic countries and we fully understand that any escalation beyond Ukraine will bring a world conflict with the destruction of everything… we cannot support this.”
Putin had a similar message for US commentator Tucker Carlson during their interview earlier this month.
But, Putin also said he had no plans to invade Ukraine just before he invaded the neighbouring nation.
Sky News also asked the ambassador if Putin may be “tempted” to invade a Nato nation after Donald Trump said he would “encourage” Russia to act on any member state which does not spend 2% of GDP of defence.
He claimed Trump’s comments were a “joke”, and refused to show a preference for either a Trump or a Biden victory in this year’s presidential election.
But, he criticised leaders like Rishi Sunak for just thinking about the “continuation” of the conflict by still supporting Ukraine, and praised Trump for claiming could end the war in 24 hours if he had a second term.
Kelin said Moscow has “sufficient capacity” for its war effort, too, even though there reports Russia is struggling with depleted supplies have circulated for months.
The ambassador then alleged there “no proof” Moscow was receiving ballistic missiles and artillery from North Korea, in a move which would violate a UN treaty Russia itself signed.
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