During the online conference of the Council on Foreign Relations, Petro Poroshenko called on the Western partners to provide Ukraine with weapons to withstand Russian aggression.

‘We need anti-aircraft systems, electronic warfare, secure communications, drones and more to make Putin realize the price of his crazy decisions’, said the former president.

He also condemned Nord Stream 2 as another tool of Russian hybrid aggression and demanded sanctions ‘not then, but now’.

‘If someone thinks that sanctions against Nord Stream 2 will be effective after it is certified and put into operation, it is definitely not true. Nord Stream 2 will push Russia to be even more aggressive. Everyone should understand this. Because when Nord Stream 2 is in operation, Putin will attack the existing gas transportation system. We must not allow Putin to win this battle’, Poroshenko explained.

Poroshenko stressed that Putin’s greatest weakness is his way of thinking through the prism of interests because ‘Putin sees ‘red lines’ using the logic of the Cold War. You remember his dreams about the size of the territories that fall within his sphere of interest. At the same time, he sees no ‘red lines’ in such issues as human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Putin’s logic is to take territory from his neighbors’.

 

Earlier, Petro Poroshenko made a statement regarding Biden-Putin virtual meeting.