Russia's President Vladimir Putin has rejected President Joe Biden's assertion that Russia would target a NATO nation if it triumphed in the Ukraine conflict, emphasizing that Russia has no interest in engaging with the NATO military alliance.
The Ukraine war has spurred the most profound crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Biden had cautioned last year that a direct clash between NATO and Russia could lead to World War Three.
In a recent plea to Republicans not to impede additional military aid, Biden cautioned that if Putin succeeded in Ukraine, he would not halt and would go on to attack a NATO country.
"It is complete nonsense - and I think President Biden understands that," Putin said in an interview published by Rossiya state television. He suggested that Biden seemed to be justifying his own "mistaken policy" on Russia.
According to Putin, Russia has no geopolitical, economic, political, or military motivation to confront NATO countries.
"Russia has no reason, no interest - no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military - to fight with NATO countries," Putin said.
He highlighted that the U.S.-led NATO alliance, formed in 1949 to secure the West against the Soviet Union, expanded after the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse to include former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations.
Putin consistently portrays NATO's post-Cold War expansion as indicative of the West's arrogant handling of Russia's security concerns. Regarding finding common ground with the West despite heated rhetoric, Putin asserted, "They will have to find common ground because they will have to reckon with us."
He criticized the West for failing to comprehend the profound changes triggered by the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, eliminating any genuine ideological basis for a Russia-West confrontation. Putin, reflecting on his impressions in 2000, admitted, "I really did have a naive impression. The reality is that after the fall of the Soviet Union, they considered that they just had to wait for a bit to completely destroy Russia."
ALSO READ | Netanyahu Engages in Talks with Putin Amid Escalating Tensions with Russia over Gaza
ALSO READ | Why Oct 7 Hamas attack came to Putin as an unexpected b'day gift
