West Provoking New Cold War Says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hinted to a German reporter that the west is provoking a new cold war.

Putin's suggestion came in response to the interviewer for German channel ARD who pointed to aggressive acts by NATO.

“Does Russia have military bases around the world? NATO and the United States have military bases scattered all over the globe, including in areas close to our borders, and their number is growing,” the Russian premier said.

“Moreover, just recently it was decided to deploy Special Operations Forces, again in close proximity to our borders.

You have mentioned various exercises, flights, ship movements, and so on. Is all of this going on? Yes, it is indeed,” he continued.

Putin also claimed that seven ex-Soviet nations - Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – joining NATO in recent years were “significant geopolitical game changers.”

The bold statement comes after Russia expelled German and Polish diplomats, as well as mounting economic pressure from the European Union in the form of sanctions, for Russia's role in the current Ukraine conflicts. However, recent measures have focused on pro-Russian Ukraine rebels.

Putin himself was recently accused by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott of “trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union,” while U.S. President Barack Obama said that Putin and his subjects “slip back into cold war thinking.”