New Delhi: The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accused Western leaders of deliberately fuelling fear among their people by portraying Russia as a threat, saying Moscow had neither threatened European countries nor had any intention of engaging in a conflict with them. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Putin said there was “no such threat” from Russia and that there had never been one.
Putin described the alleged threat as a “fake” narrative used by Western countries to justify their policies and influence public opinion. He also said European governments were trying to frighten their own people by reviving fears associated with Russia and the former Soviet Union.
“There is no such threat, and there has never been,” Putin said, arguing that Russia had no reason to seek confrontation with Europe. He added that Moscow was not threatening European countries and was not planning to do so, questioning why Russia would have any reason to enter into a conflict with them.
The Russian president also criticized what he called “Western globalists”, blaming them for a series of political, security and economic failures across Europe. He said developments on the continent, including the strong performance of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the September 6 election in Saxony-Anhalt, reflected the consequences of what he described as systemic mistakes by Western elites.
Putin said Western elites had considered themselves dominant after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading them to believe they could act without consequences. According to him, European voters were increasingly recognizing these failures, which was reflected in changing political trends across the continent.
He also renewed his criticism of Western policy towards Ukraine, saying Moscow’s objections to Nato’s eastward expansion had been repeatedly ignored. Putin argued that after the political upheaval in Ukraine in 2014, Western countries began seeking to bring Kyiv into Nato, which he described as a major factor behind the current conflict.
Putin further warned that any deployment of European troops to Ukrainian territory would have serious consequences for the region. Referring to discussions about sending troops to Ukraine, he said such a move would amount to war with Russia and could further escalate tensions between Moscow and Western countries.
On the broader European security order, Putin said Russia’s interests had been ignored despite arrangements reached after the Second World War and following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He argued that actions contradicting those arrangements were also inconsistent with what Moscow considers the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter.
Putin is in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit, alongside the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. On Friday, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, held talks with Putin on the sidelines of the summit, with discussions covering closer trade ties and implementation of the Programme for Economic Cooperation 2030, as well as cooperation in infrastructure, energy, technology, defence and culture.