SOCHI, October 22 /TASS/. Russia does not want military infrastructure to approach its borders but it is not against democracy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his speech at a session of the Valdai discussion club on Thursday.
"Are we against the advancement of democracy to our borders? But do what you mean by the word democracy? Is it NATO’s advancement to our borders? Do you call it democracy?" Putin asked commenting a speech of one of the foreign delegates.
NATO is a military bloc. "We are concerned with the advancement of its military infrastructure to our borders," Putin said adding that Russia could not but react to it.
Russia issues no demands that US change laws, wants the same from Washington
According to the president, Russia does not demand a change of laws in the US and it speaks out against any such moves towards itself on the part of Washington.
He stressed his strong opposition to state coups. "You’ll stage Iraq and Libya here," he said calling attention to the US Administration’s frank admissions it was spending billions of dollars to support oppositionist quarters in different countries.
Putin also disagreed with the assertions that the US had no craving to reshuffle Russia’s system of state power. "An American law which I think concerns Ukraine also mentions Russia, stating ‘democratization’ of the Russian Federation as an objective. And can you imagine a situation where an internal Russian law would state an objective of democratizing the US?"