Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been waging war against Ukraine for more than two years, declared last month that he intends to persist with the conflict despite recent Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory. He accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool against Russia.
In a report released Monday by the Russian news agency TASS, Putin reaffirmed his stance in an interview with Mongolia’s Unuudur, stating that the “special military operation” launched in February 2022 would continue unabated. He asserted that the operation’s goals were to replace the Ukrainian government, which he described as being tainted by neo-Nazism, and to disarm the country.
During his visit to Mongolia on Tuesday, Putin reiterated through the pre-released interview that the current situation was a direct result of what he termed the West’s “destructive strategy” toward Ukraine. He accused Western elites of treating Ukraine as a weapon against Russia by providing significant political, financial, and military support to the Ukrainian regime.
Putin underscored that Russia must persist in its rigorous efforts to achieve the objectives of the special military operation to secure the safety of Russia and its citizens. In line with this, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, in a September 1 interview with TASS, revealed that Russia is revising its nuclear weapons doctrine in response to Western actions that he claims are escalating the conflict in Ukraine. Ryabkov indicated that this change is a reaction to the perceived escalation by Western adversaries.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 on charges related to the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. As a member of the ICC, Mongolia is obligated to enforce the arrest warrant if Putin enters its territory. In August, the Ukrainian government formally requested Mongolia to carry out the arrest warrant.
