At his annual end-of-year press conference Thursday, President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia’s future policy would depend “on the unconditional guarantees of Russian national security”, and stressed that Moscow has “made it clear that NATO’s expansion to the east is unacceptable”. Russia will respond to any hostile actions by the Western powers with adequate military measures, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. “You must understand why this subject has arisen… – Sputnik News Photo: Russian Ministry of Defence