During a meeting with Russian military pilots on Wednesday, which was reported by the Kremlin last night, Putin said that NATO is trying to intimidate the population with such warnings in order to maintain their support for further aid to Ukraine, against which Russia has been waging war for more than two years. At the same time, the head of the Kremlin declared that if the West supplies the Ukrainians with F-16 fighter jets, the Russian army will shoot them down.
Putin criticized the expansion of NATO and said of the countries on the Eastern flank of the Alliance that “they seem to think that somehow it all corresponds to their national interests, they are afraid of a big Russia”.
“We have no aggressive intentions towards these states,” Putin said. “So this is complete nonsense, the possibility of an attack on some other countries, on Poland, the Baltics, even Bohemia is scary. It’s just nonsense, another way to deceive its residents and to get more money from people to carry the burden on their shoulders,” he also said in connection with the cost of Western aid to Ukraine. On the war in Ukraine, Putin said that Russia was “just protecting the people in its historical territories.”
To countries that plan to supply Ukraine with F-16 military aircraft, the president said that Russia will destroy these planes, “just as today we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including salvo rocket launchers.” The planes will be a legitimate target for the Russian army, whether they take off from Ukraine or from other countries, the Russian leader said.
