“We are fighting against the entire bloc of NATO and we keep moving, keep advancing and feel confident, and we are a paper tiger; what NATO itself is?” he said. “A paper tiger? Go and deal with this paper tiger then.”
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Putin’s remarks.
At the same time, Putin hailed Trump’s efforts to help negotiate peace in Ukraine and described their August summit in Alaska as productive.
“It was good that we made an attempt to search for and find possible ways to settle the Ukrainian crisis,” he said, adding that he felt “comfortable” talking to Trump.
Putin also reaffirmed his offer to the US to extend their last remaining nuclear arms control pact for one more year after it expires in February. The 2010 New START treaty limits each country to no more than 1550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.
“If they don’t need it, we don’t need it either,” he said, adding that “we feel confident about our nuclear shield”.
While praising Trump and trying to emphasise potential common interests, the Russian president sent a stern warning to Ukraine’s Western allies against trying to seize ships that carry Russian oil to global markets. He argued that would amount to piracy and could trigger a forceful response while sharply destabilising the global oil market.
Asked about the detention of an oil tanker off France’s Atlantic coast, which French President Emmanuel Macron linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding Western sanctions, Putin cast it as an attempt by Macron to distract public attention from his country’s internal problems and mockingly likened the French leader to Napoleon.
He strongly warned the West against such action, arguing that it defied international maritime law and risked triggering military confrontation. “It’s piracy, and how do you deal with pirates? You destroy them,” he said.
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Putin also scoffed at Western claims of possible Russian involvement in recent drone flights over Denmark, casting them as part of purported NATO efforts to “inflame tensions to boost the defence spending”.
Intrusions into NATO’s airspace blamed on Russia reached an unprecedented scale last month. A swarm of Russian drones flew into Poland, Estonia complained about an intrusion by Russian fighter jets and numerous unidentified drones were sighted over Denmark, Germany and other countries in what some European officials described as Moscow testing NATO’s response.
European defence ministers have agreed to develop a “drone wall” along their borders to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace.
Putin dismissed Western allegations of Russia’s purported aggressive plans against NATO allies as “nonsense” aimed at distracting public attention from domestic problems.
“We are carefully watching the growing militarisation of Europe,” he said. “Is all of this just words, or is it time for us to take countermeasures? No one should have doubt that Russia’s countermeasures will not take a long time to come.”
At one point during the four-hour event televised live, Putin, a former Soviet KGB officer and one-time head of Russia’s top domestic security agency, misspoke and referred to himself as “the CIA director” while describing a meeting with former US president George W. Bush and his administration officials. “The future director,” Putin quipped as the audience broke into laughter.
AP, Reuters
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