Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets for destruction,” unless Russia first agrees to a cease-fire and peace deal. Ukraine’s Western allies are reportedly considering a plan under which the United States would supervise a postwar “buffer zone,” but all boots on the ground would be supplied by non-NATO countries.
“If any troops appear there, especially now, during the fighting, we assume that they will be legitimate targets for destruction,” Putin said during his keynote speech to the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
“And if decisions are reached that will lead to peace, to long-term peace, then I simply see no point in their presence on Ukrainian territory,” Putin continued.
“If these agreements are reached, no one doubts that Russia will implement them in full,” he insisted, despite voluminous evidence to the contrary.
As Ukrainian officials frequently point out, Russia has a long history of violating peace deals and international agreements, including under Putin’s rule. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2014 through 2022, and its full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 were all violations of treaties dating back to the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
The Eastern Economic Forum is an annual event intended to encourage international investment in Russia’s Far East region. It has been held in Vladivostok every year since its inception in 2015.
Ukraine, the United States, and the European members of Ukraine’s “Coalition of the Willing” have recently been discussing plans for guaranteeing Ukraine’s security after a potential ceasefire agreement with Russia.
The Coalition of the Willing said on Thursday that 26 of its 36 member states were prepared to contribute to Ukraine’s security after the war, including a “reassurance force” that would be stationed in a buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia at a safe distance from the Russian border. None of the coalition’s discussions have involved moving troops into Ukraine before a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after a conference call with all 35 of the coalition’s members that he was “counting on the U.S. backstop” for security. He did not comment on the size or composition of the proposed reassurance force.
NBC News reported on Friday that officials from the U.S. and other Ukrainian allies have been discussing a plan for America to “take the lead in watching the buffer zone, using drones and satellites along with other intelligence capabilities,” while all forces on the ground would be supplied by “non-NATO countries, like Saudi Arabia, or even Bangladesh.”
The stipulation that buffer zone ground forces would come from countries that are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was meant to address Moscow’s complaints that a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine could put NATO forces on Russia’s doorstep.
Putin sometimes claims he invaded Ukraine because he thought it was about to join NATO, although he said during his visit to China this week that he would not object to Ukraine joining the European Union (EU) economic bloc.
Ukraine’s allies have been working on a postwar security plan that would give Ukraine solid protection against another Russian invasion without a commitment on the level of NATO’s Article V which would oblige all NATO states to immediately come to Ukraine’s defense if it was attacked.
Putin’s remarks in Vladivostok were more combative than some of Moscow’s previous remarks about a potential buffer zone and reassurance force, suggesting he returned from his trip to China in a more belligerent and confident move. Taken at face value, his remarks to the Eastern Economic Forum would suggest he is prepared to dismiss any international buffer zone force as unacceptable.
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