Moscow to attack Europe after Ukraine is 'utter nonsense': Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected reports of Moscow to attack Europe and NATO countries after Ukraine and said, "This is just nonsense," RT news agency reported on Wednesday. This comes as Putin visited the Toezhok air base in Tver Region and said that Moscow is not seeking a confrontation with America's vassals in Eastern Europe.

"The claims that we are going to attack Europe after Ukraine--it is utter nonsense and intimidation of their own population just to beat the money out of them," Putin said. RT news agency reported that Putin added that multiple western officials have tried to drum up support for additional aid to Ukraine by claiming that Moscow will not stop if Kyiv is defeated on the battlefield.

US satellites in Eastern Europe have no reason to be afraid, Putin said. "Talk of a potential Russian attack on Poland, the Czech Republic, or the Baltic states is just propaganda by governments that seek to scare their citizens "to extract additional expenses from people, to make them bear this burden on their shoulders," he added.

President Putin also noted that the NATO has been expanding towards the borders of Russia, not the other way around and added that Russia is merely "protecting our people on our historical territories." "They came right up to our borders... Did we go across the ocean to the borders of the United States? No, they are approaching us, and they have come very close," he said.

Torzhok is home to the 344th Training Center for Russian combat pilots, including personnel being trained to take part in the Ukraine conflict, RT news agency reported. On March 18, President Putin warned the Western powers that any direct conflict between Russia and the NATO alliance, led by the US, would mean the world will be "one step away" from a full-scale World War III, TASS reported.

However, he also said that it is "unlikely" that anyone is interested in this. The Russia-Ukraine war has sparked the most severe strain in Moscow's relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Putin has frequently highlighted the dangers of nuclear warfare but asserted that he has never deemed it necessary to employ nuclear weapons in Ukraine, according to TASS.

Speaking to reporters, after emerging victorious in the post-Soviet Russian history, Putin said that in the future, a direct conflict between Russia and NATO cannot be ruled out, although no one is interested in this. "I think that everything is possible in the modern world. But <...> it will be one step away from a full-scale third world war. I think it's unlikely Is anyone interested in this?" TASS quotes Putin as saying. (ANI)

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