Overview
- Putin delivered the assessment at a briefing with Russia’s Security Council held by video and asked Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to report on the European track.
- He said Moscow is not responsible for the rift and argued that pointing to events in Ukraine does not fully explain the downturn.
- He blamed the previous U.S. administration and several leading European countries, saying they backed the 2014 change of power in Kyiv that he described as a coup.
- He said Russia has never refused to build or restore relations with European states and signaled readiness to do so.
- His message lands as European governments keep funding and arming Ukraine and work on energy resilience, which shapes the stakes for any attempt to repair ties.