Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned of a “significant” response to what he described as Europe’s accelerating militarisation, vowing that Moscow would not show “weakness or indecisiveness.”
Speaking at a foreign policy forum in southern Russia, Putin said Russia was “closely monitoring the rising militarisation of Europe,” adding, “Retaliatory measures by Russia will not take long. The response to such threats will be very significant.” He insisted Moscow had no intention of attacking NATO but mocked the West for what he called fearmongering.
“If anyone still has a desire to compete with us in the military sphere, as we say, feel free, let them try,” Putin remarked, highlighting Germany’s ambition to build Europe’s strongest army. He accused European elites of whipping up “hysteria,” repeating the claim that a Russian attack on NATO was “impossible to believe.”
“Genuinely, I just want to say: cool down, sleep calmly, and take care of your own problems. Just take a look at what’s happening on the streets of European cities,” he said.
The comments came as drone incidents in Denmark and alleged Russian airspace violations in Estonia and Poland raised fears of the Ukraine war spilling beyond its borders. Putin dismissed these concerns, claiming European leaders were stoking panic to justify soaring defence budgets.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected comparisons with the Cold War, describing the current standoff as far more dangerous. “We are already in another form of conflict. There has been no cold here for a long time; there is already fire here,” she told reporters, accusing NATO and the EU of fabricating sabotage allegations to prepare “a chain of provocations.”
Putin also claimed Russia was effectively fighting the entire NATO alliance in Ukraine. Responding to US President Donald Trump’s description of Russia as a “paper tiger,” Putin said: “But given we are at war with the entire NATO bloc and are advancing, feeling confident, and we are still being called a paper tiger, then what is NATO itself?”
He further accused Kyiv of carrying out strikes around the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, warning that Moscow might retaliate. Europe’s largest atomic facility — currently in cold shutdown mode — recently suffered its longest power outage since the start of the war.
Relations between Moscow and the European Union have continued to unravel since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with EU states boosting defence spending and NATO deployments in response.
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