Moscow is not seeking a confrontation with America’s satellites in Eastern Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
Multiple Western officials have tried to drum up support for additional aid to Ukraine by claiming that Moscow will not stop if Kiev is defeated on the battlefield. Putin addressed these claims during a visit to Torzhok air base in Tver Region.
“This is just nonsense,” the Russian president said, noting the disparity in Russian defense spending and the budgets of NATO militaries. “The claims that we are going to attack Europe after Ukraine – it is utter nonsense and intimidation of their own population just to beat the money out of them.”
US “satellites” in Eastern Europe have no reason to be afraid, Putin added. Talk of a potential Russian attack on Poland, the Czech Republic, or the Baltic states is just propaganda by governments that seek to scare their citizens “to extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden on their shoulders.”
NATO has been expanding towards the borders of Russia, not the other way around, the president noted, adding that Russia is merely ”protecting our people on our historical territories.”
“They came right up to our borders… Did we go across the ocean to the borders of the United States? No, they are approaching us, and they have come very close,” he said.
Torzhok is home to the 344th Training Center for Russian combat pilots, including personnel being trained to take part in the Ukraine conflict.