At the end of the broadcast, the issue was discussed in Ukraine. “The man is of course totally paranoia,” Rutte said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, after it became known that a Russian ‘peace mission’ is going to the rebellious Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Putin announced in a nationally televised speech earlier in the evening that Russia will recognize the renegade regions in the neighboring country as independent states. In that speech, he lashed out at the Ukrainian government, the West and NATO, among others.
According to Rutte, Putin portrayed the government of Ukraine as a kind of dictatorship, while it is a democratically elected government. “That is quite different from the situation in Russia.” And that president announces a peace mission, according to the prime minister.
He left the program towards the end to see what the consequences of the Russian invasion are and what it means. Rutte fears an invasion in the Donbas region and that should lead to ‘massive retaliation with sanctions’. The insurgent regions of Luhansk and Donetsk are located in the greater Donbas region.
