Russia has no plans for any NATO country, nor will it attack Poland, the Baltic states or the Czech Republic. But if the West supplies F-16 fighter planes to Kyiv, they will be shot down by Russian forces, Reuters news agency quotes President Vladimir Putin as saying.
Speaking to Russian air force pilots last night, Putin said that while the US-led military alliance had expanded eastwards into Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow had no plans to attack NATO state. “We have no aggressive intentions towards these states,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin transcript released today.
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Attack NATO? Nonsense!
“The idea that we will attack another country – Poland, the Baltic states and the Czechs are also being frightened – is complete nonsense. It’s just nonsense,” he said. Asked about F-16 fighter planes that the West will send to Ukraine, Putin said that such aircraft would not change the situation in Ukraine. “If they supply F-16s, and they talk about this and apparently train pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” Putin said.
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Warning
But also: ‘And we will destroy the planes, just as today we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers. Implicitly, Putin warned against the use of so-called third country airfields by the Ukrainian F-16s: “Of course, if they are used from third country airfields, they become legitimate targets for us, wherever they are,” Putin said.
Follow developments in Ukraine and Russia here in our live blog Putin’s comments are a response to remarks made earlier today by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Kuleba said the planes should arrive in Ukraine in the coming months. The fighter planes in question will be supplied by Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.
