Statements by the West about Russia's alleged plans to attack Europe after Ukraine are nonsense to intimidate its own population.
This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with military pilots, quoted by RIA Novosti.
According to him, US satellites “are afraid of a big, strong Russia”, although they do so in vain. “We do not have any aggressive intentions towards these countries”, the head of state emphasized.
"This is complete nonsense - the possibility of an attack against some other countries, against Poland, the Baltic states, scares the Czechs. Just bullshit. Another way to cheat their population and extract additional costs from the people, to force them to take this burden on their shoulders, that's all.” .
Russia will not go to war with NATO, this is just nonsense, the difference in military spending is big, the president pointed out. He recalled that in 2022, the US spent $811 billion on military spending, while Russia spent $72 billion.
"With this ratio, are we going to war with NATO or something similar? Well, that's just nonsense," Putin remarked.
He emphasized that it was not Russia that moved to the borders of the NATO countries - it was the opposite.
"We didn't touch anyone - they were moving towards us. Perhaps we have crossed the ocean to the borders of the United States? No, they were closing in on us and coming close. And what do we do? We are simply protecting our people on our historical territories“, said the head of state.
The President noted that Russia, during a special operation in Ukraine, protects the people of its historical territories. And if a security system had been built in Europe after the collapse of the USSR, nothing like this would have happened.
Putin said he had no doubt that the armed forces would fulfill the tasks set. At the same time, he assessed the work of aviation in the special operation area as excellent.
„Everyone is doing a great job, making a huge contribution to achieving a common victory... The most important thing is that everyone is fighting fearlessly, making a huge, just a huge contribution to achieving a common success.“
According to him, attack aircraft pilots do a very hard job. Putin also noted the work of the army and bomber aviation, as well as military transport aviation.
At the same time, he expressed confidence that F-16 fighter jets, even if Western countries supply them to Ukraine, will not be able to change the situation on the battlefield. He emphasized that if these fighters take off from the territory of third countries, they will become a legitimate target for Russia. In addition, according to the president, the F-16 will have the same fate as other Western equipment delivered to Kiev - Russia will destroy them.