Nato 'an obvious threat' to Russia - Putin UPDATE

Nato 'an obvious threat' to Russia - Putin

Qazet.az reports Putin's speech

Rusian President Vladimir Putin says over the past year there were tensions with other European nations, and Nato.

He says Russia "urged Europe to find a fair compromise, but they didn't want to hear us" and says they were preparing a punitive operation in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, where he has said Russia's operations are now focused.

"In Kyiv they were saying they might get nuclear weapons and Nato started exploring the lands close to us and that became an obvious threat to our country and to our borders. Everything was telling us that there is a need to fight."