Putin rebukes Biden, says Russia has no interest in attacking Nato

The Russian leader said his US counterpart appeared to be trying to justify his own ‘mistaken policy’ on Moscow

Biden warned this month that if Putin was victorious over Ukraine then he would not stop and would attack a Nato country

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Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:10pm, 17 Dec 2023Updated: 6:13pm, 17 Dec 2023

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin dismissed as complete nonsense remarks by US President Joe Biden that Russia would attack a Nato country if it won the war in Ukraine, adding that Russia had no interest in fighting the Nato military alliance.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Biden warned last year that a direct confrontation between Nato and Russia would trigger World War III.

In a plea to Republicans not to block further military aid earlier this month, Biden warned that if Putin was victorious over Ukraine then the Russian leader would not stop and would attack a Nato country.

“It is complete nonsense – and I think President Biden understands that,” Putin said in an interview published on Sunday by Rossiya state television, adding that Biden appeared to be trying to justify his own “mistaken policy” on Russia.

“Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with Nato countries,” Putin said.

The US-led Nato alliance was founded in 1949 to provide Western security against the Soviet Union. After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, it was enlarged to include some former Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries.