Putin says Russia will end ‘special military operations’ if West respects its security interests

Russian President Vladimir Putin said there would be no further “special military operations” only if the West treats Russia with respect during a live broadcast, as reported by the BBC. He said that Russia wants the West to consider its interests, as the Russians have considered on numerous occasions. Putin accused Europeans of "cheating" Russia with NATO's eastward expansion. He asserted again that Russia didn't start this war.

“As we say, they screwed us; they simply disregarded our security interests”, said Putin. He said Russia would immediately cease hostilities if assured of its" security conditions in the medium and long terms". These statements are part of the live end-of-year call-in show aired on December 19, 2025, where BBC reporters confronted him on various issues, including the ongoing Russia-Europe tensions.

Responding to the claims of attacking Europe, Putin said, “They say that we are going to attack Europe! What nonsense is that?!” Putin claimed that this was part of Europe's domestic political agenda. Europe wants to portray Russia as an “enemy” state. Russia wants to work with the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, but as equals. There was a change of demeanour toward the United States, and it is no longer presented as an adversary.

Putin claimed that he believed that Ukraine is not ready to end the war with Russia. Because Kyiv is unwilling to make territorial concessions, however, it conceded that there were “some signals” of Ukraine's willingness to engage in dialogue. Earlier, the European Union leaders had finalised a €90bn loan to Ukraine to continue its ongoing defence against Russia's aggression, as they failed to reach an agreement on whether to use frozen Russian assets to provide a loan to Ukraine.