US actions lead to new cold war — Putin

ST. PETERSBURG, June 19 /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the US actions were leading the world to a new cold war.

"It’s not local conflicts but global decisions such as the US unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty that lead the world to local conflicts," Putin said replying to participants in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"It is really a step which is pushing all of us to a new spiral of the arms race because it changes the global security system," Putin said.

"Wherever regional conflicts break out, the parties in conflict always inexplicably find weapons," Putin said adding the rule could equally be applied to Ukraine’s eastern provinces.

"If today’s situation had been solved by political means, no weapons would have been needed. But for that we need goodwill and desire to conduct a direct dialogue. Moscow will contribute to this process," Putin added.

"What will we never agree to? We will never allow anybody to talk to others from the position of force first with the help of police or militia and then with the help of security services and the armed forces," the Russian leader said.

"So long as army units and the so-called battalions, which are armed nationalist formations, did not appear in those territories (in southeastern Ukraine), there was no weapons there," Putin said.

"And there would have been no weapons there if problems had been solved peacefully straight from start. The weapons appeared there (in southeastern Ukraine) as soon as tanks, artillery, MLRS and aviation started killing people in those regions. Then people who put up resistance also appeared there," Putin said.

"The weapons will go as soon as attempts will be made to find a political settlement to these problems," the Russian head of state stressed.