(MENAFN) Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Moscow will cease engaging in “one-sided” arrangements with Western countries, emphasizing a shift in policy during a conversation with reporters at the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit in Minsk.

Speaking during a press briefing on Friday, Putin stressed that Western nations have repeatedly failed to honor their pledges, especially regarding NATO's enlargement and efforts to address the crisis in Ukraine.

According to the Russian leader, the NATO alliance is now rationalizing its aim to increase defense budgets to 5 percent of members’ gross domestic product and expand its military presence across Europe by citing alleged Russian “aggressiveness.”

Putin criticized this narrative, asserting that alliance members are “turning everything upside down” by framing Russia as the aggressor.

“No one is saying a word about how we’ve come up to the Russian special military operation,” Putin remarked, underlining that the origin of the Ukraine crisis dates back many years.

He accused Western powers of having “blatantly lied to” Moscow regarding the eastern enlargement of NATO. “What followed was one expansion wave after another,” he pointed out.

Putin further emphasized that Moscow’s persistent security concerns about NATO’s operations have been repeatedly dismissed and met with silence.

“Isn’t it aggressive behavior? That is precisely aggressive behavior, which the West does not want to pay attention to,” he concluded.

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