Kremlin clarifies Putin’s ‘cordon sanitaire’ idea
Russia may need to establish a buffer zone with Ukraine to ensure the safety of Russian regions that are often subject to Kiev’s deadly and indiscriminate artillery and drone attacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
During his victory speech after the conclusion of the presidential election on Sunday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow could at some point be forced to “create a certain cordon sanitaire” in Kiev-controlled territories in light of the “tragic events” which have happened in regions bordering Ukraine.
This security zone, he said, “would be quite difficult for the adversary to overcome with its weapons, primarily of foreign origin.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov explained that Russia “would take measures to safeguard [its] territories” from Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes on settlements, residential blocks and critical civilian infrastructure.
The only way to make those areas safe, he continued, is to create “some kind of corridor, some kind of… buffer zone that [would put] out of reach any means that the enemy might use to launch strikes.”
Russian border regions are regularly attacked by Ukraine; many of the strikes target civilian infrastructure, resulting in dozens of deaths. Long-range Ukrainian raids sometimes reach as far as Moscow and St. Petersburg, several hundred kilometers from the front line.
Kiev’s forces have also launched ground incursions into Russian territory. The most recent such raid targeted the Kursk and Belgorod border regions last week. Moscow has described the attempt to breach the border as a total failure, saying the attacking forces lost over 1,500 soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles.
