Putin warns neighbors not to escalate tensions

By Agencies and ToI Staff 4 March 2022, 2:23 pm

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via teleconference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, on March 3, 2022. (Andrey Gorshkov/Sputnik/AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin urges Russia’s neighbors not to escalate tensions, more than one week after Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine.

“There are no bad intentions towards our neighbors. And I would also advise them not to escalate the situation, not to introduce any restrictions. We fulfill all our obligations and will continue to fulfill them,” Putin says in televised remarks according to Reuters.

“We do not see any need here to aggravate or worsen our relations. And all our actions, if they arise, they always arise exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions, actions against the Russian Federation,” he adds.

Separately, the Kremlin calls on Russians to rally around Putin.

“Now is not the time to be divided,” the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters, responding to a question on pleas from public figures to end the war.

“Now is the time to unite, to unite around our president.”