Russia Is Not Planning to Fight NATO: Putin

Russia is not planning to fight NATO. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called all such claims "nonsense." He noted, "In 2022, the USA spent $811 billion on defense, while Russia spent $72 billion, a difference of more than 10 times. The U.S. defense expenditures make up about 40 percent of global defense spending, while Russia accounts for 3.5. And considering this ratio, are we going to fight NATO? This is simply absurd," Putin said.

He further stated that if new relations regarding security in Europe had been constructed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Russia had proposed, today nothing like this would exist. "They would have simply taken our interests into account," he added.

Putin also emphasized that Russia has not moved towards NATO's borders. He stated that during the "Special Military Operations," Russia is protecting its people living in historical Russian territories. "Thus, the idea that we are going to attack Europe after Ukraine is utter nonsense. They are frightening their own people solely to extort money from them," the Russian president concluded.