Russia: Putin Assures Russia Will Not Target NATO, Warns to Shoot F-16s in Ukraine

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia does not plan to attack any NATO countries but warned that if the West gives F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Russia will shoot them down.

Putin announced this when he was visiting an airbase in Torzhok, between Moscow and St Petersburg. He assured a group of pilots that had no intention of starting a war with any Western alliance members that could involve the US, which has a much larger defense budget.

He said that the suggestion that Russia might attack another country like Poland, the Baltic States, or the Czech Republic is completely absurd.

The Kremlin, blaming the US for indirectly fighting against Russia by aiding Ukraine with funds, weapons, and intelligence, states that relations with Washington are likely at an all-time low.

Putin also dismissed the idea that he planned to invade Ukraine until just days before he sent Russia’s military across the border for its “special military exercise”.

In any case, people in the Baltic States are not paying much attention to Putin’s reassurance. They have long and bitter memories of being occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and then forced to be part of the Soviet bloc for more than five decades.

In January, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia agreed to establish a joint defense zone along their borders with Russia and Belarus.

Each of the three countries has since started extensive defense programs, which involve expanding yheir militaries and undertaking significant defense-related construction projects.

Putin made these comments after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated earlier in the day that the aircraft should be delivered to Ukraine in the coming months.

Ukraine which has been at war with Russia for over two years, has been asking for F-16s for several months.

Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands are some of the countries that have promised to give F-16s. A group of countries has also committed to training Ukrainian pilots to use them.

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