Russia has no “imperialist” ambitions, has no plans to attack NATO: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the idea that Russia could attack NATO, calling it “nonsense”.

St. Petersburg:

President Vladimir Putin told a gathering of foreign news outlets on Wednesday that Moscow has no “imperial ambitions” and called “nonsense” the idea that Russia could attack NATO.

“There is no need to look at any imperialist ambitions. We do not have any such ambitions,” Putin said in response to an AFP question about the presence of Soviet and Russian imperial flags at the headquarters of Russian energy giant Gazprom.

“There’s no need to look for something that isn’t there,” he said, adding: “Don’t try to portray Russia as an enemy. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

“They have come up with this idea that Russia wants to attack NATO. Have you lost your mind? Are you as thick as two small planks? Who made this up? This is nonsense, this is nonsense,” Putin told reporters.

Russia denied for several months that it was preparing a military attack in Ukraine before launching the attack on February 24, 2022, and accused Western powers of trying to use its Ukrainian ally to harm Russia.

Russia has also announced the annexation of five Ukrainian regions and several Russian officials, including Putin, have pointed out that these territories previously belonged to the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)