Putin accuses Nato of ignoring Russia’s concerns as Ukraine crisis simmers

Vladimir Putin said the US and its Nato allies had ignored Russia's main security concerns, but promised to continue talks with the west, in a call with Emmanuel Macron amid simmering tensions over possible war in Ukraine.

In his first public comments on US and Nato responses to Russian proposals to rewrite the post-cold war security architecture, Putin said Moscow's concerns about the expansion of Nato and the deployment of strike weapons near its borders had not been taken into account, according to a Kremlin readout of the phone call with his French counterpart.

Macron told Putin that Russia had to respect the sovereignty of states, according to the Élysée. Putin agreed to continue talks, so there was a feeling that "things have moved", a French presidency official said.

The Pentagon said that the Russian military buildup around Ukraine was unprecedented since the end of the cold war and, if unleashed, would cause "horrific casualties". The US has called a UN security council meeting on Monday for Russia to explain its military operations.

The diplomatic manoeuvres came as Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, suggested the White House was panicking about an imminent Russian attack.

More than 100,000 Russian troops have massed at the border with Ukraine, prompting the US president, Joe Biden, to tell Zelenskiy, on Thursday there was "a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February".

Europeans have taken a more cautious approach to predictions of a Russian attack than Washington. The head of Germany's foreign intelligence service said on Friday that Russia was not yet fixed on an invasion, although it was prepared. "I believe that the decision to attack has not yet been made," Bruno Kahl told Reuters.