Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Sunday that Ukraine should be annexed by Moscow if the country’s president, Vladimir Zelensky, does not change course from his anti-Russian policy.
“My deep conviction is that if Zelensky and his team behave this way, Ukraine should be annexed to our country. The Ukrainians are our people. It is our territory. This is my opinion,” Kadyrov said.
Also, he noted that he would have been ready to lead an offensive to “annex Ukraine to the Chechen Republic” if instructed to do so.
“With Kyiv’s existence, there is always a place for the West to deploy its military bases there and to dictate their demands in regard to our country,” Kadyrov said speaking during his annual press conference. “I am positive that our president would not allow it.”
“We [Chechnya] are ready to act as infantry force to be deployed anywhere and accomplish orders without any problems,” Kadyrov said.
On top of that, the State Duma (Kremlin-controlled lower house) Deputy, claims that Kyiv preparing to attack Russia.
“There is a real threat of an attack on Russia, they are being prepared for this. Everything is bad enough for them to keep people subordinate, ” State Duma Deputy Mikhail Delyagin said.
According to the deputy, the only way to keep people in subjection is through “war”.
Vladimir Putin also said last week that Russia had no room to retreat in a standoff with the United States over Ukraine and would be forced into a tough response unless the West dropped its “aggressive line.”
Putin addressed his remarks to military officials as Russia pressed for an urgent U.S. and NATO reply to proposals it made last week for a binding set of security guarantees from the West.
“What the U.S. is doing in Ukraine is at our doorstep… And they should understand that we have nowhere further to retreat to. Do they think we’ll just watch idly?” Putin said.
“If the aggressive line of our Western colleagues continues, we will take adequate military-technical response measures and react harshly to unfriendly steps.”