MOSCOW (Sputnik) \u2013 The crisis in\u00a0Ukraine was caused by\u00a0attempts on\u00a0the part of\u00a0the United States and its allies to\u00a0make other countries fit into\u00a0their agenda, Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n Putin stressed in\u00a0an interview with\u00a0the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper that “the Ukrainian crisis was not caused by\u00a0the Russian Federation. It has emerged in\u00a0response to\u00a0the attempts of\u00a0the USA and its western allies who considered themselves ‘winners’ of\u00a0the cold war to\u00a0impose their will everywhere”.<\/p>\n The military conflict in\u00a0Ukraine started last spring, when Kiev launched a special operation against\u00a0independence supporters in\u00a0the southeast, who refused to\u00a0recognize the new coup-installed government.According to\u00a0Putin, the United States and a number of\u00a0EU member states supported the February coup d’\u00e9tat in\u00a0Kiev and the ongoing conflict in\u00a0the country is fuelled by\u00a0the Kiev “war party”, which is “supported from\u00a0the outside”.<\/p>\n Putin explained that “in the framework of\u00a0the EU Eastern Partnership Program there have been attempts to\u00a0tear states which had been parts of\u00a0the former USSR off\u00a0Russia and to\u00a0prompt them to\u00a0make an artificial choice ‘between Russia and Europe'”.<\/p>\n “The Ukrainian crisis has become a high point of\u00a0these negative trends,” Putin emphasized.The Russian president added that his country has “repeatedly warned the USA and its western allies about\u00a0harmful consequences of\u00a0their interference in\u00a0Ukrainian domestic affairs”, but\u00a0the West did not listen to\u00a0what Russia had to\u00a0say.<\/p>\n The West has repeatedly accused Russia of\u00a0being involved in\u00a0the Ukrainian conflict and even went as\u00a0far as\u00a0to say that Russia was providing Ukrainian militia with\u00a0weapons, but\u00a0the claims have never been supported with\u00a0facts.<\/p>\n Meanwhile representatives of\u00a0the self-proclaimed people’s republics of\u00a0Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) have claimed that US and NATO-marked weaponry and shells have been found in\u00a0areas abandoned by\u00a0Kiev troops.<\/p>\n Putin stressed in\u00a0the interview with\u00a0Al-Ahram that NATO’s promises of\u00a0non-expansion to\u00a0the East “have turned out\u00a0to be hollow statements”.<\/p>\n “We have seen how NATO’s infrastructure was moving closer and closer towards\u00a0Russian borders and how Russian interests were being ignored,” the Russian president said.Following the reunification of\u00a0Crimea with\u00a0Russia in\u00a0March last year, NATO <\/a>began boosting its military presence along\u00a0its eastern borders and suspended all practical cooperation with\u00a0Russia, limiting contact to\u00a0ambassadorial and higher levels.<\/p>\n Last week, NATO announced that its Rapid Response Force would be increased from\u00a013,000 to\u00a030,000 people, and six new command posts would be created in\u00a0six NATO member-states neighbouring Russia.<\/p>\n Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over\u00a0NATO’s military build-up in\u00a0Eastern Europe and has stressed that it threatens regional and global stability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"US](\"http:\/\/cdn2.img.sputniknews.com\/images\/101725\/31\/1017253123.jpg\" "\\"US")
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