According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia considers the situation in Ukraine to be "vital."
For the West, on the other hand, it is just a question of tactics, Putin said on Sunday in an interview on state television, quoted by the state-run news agency TASS.
While the West was taking tactical positions on Ukraine, for his country it was "a matter of fate, a matter of life or death." If the West had not intervened, "the war would have ended a year and a half ago."
"We switched from initially peaceful measures to military instruments and tried to end this conflict peacefully," Putin claimed. Further, Russia is still prepared to negotiate a peaceful solution.
Moscow's and Kiev's positions on a possible peace solution are far apart. While Kiev insists on the return of all occupied territories, including the Crimean peninsula, Russia wants to keep the conquered territories that it has already integrated into its national territory.
Russia has been waging a bitter war against Ukraine for almost two years.
