Putin says Russia has no 'imperial' ambitions, does not plan to attack NATO

SAINT PETERSBURG

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told a meeting of foreign news outlets that Moscow harbours no "imperial ambitions" and dismissed as "bollocks" the idea that Russia could attack NATO.

"There is no need to look for some imperial ambitions of ours. There are none," Putin said in answer to a question from AFP about the presence of Soviet and Russian imperial flags at the headquarters of Russian energy giant Gazprom where the meeting took place.

"There is no need to look for something that is not there," he said, adding: "Don't make up an image of Russia as an enemy. You will only harm yourselves."

"They've come up with this idea that Russia wants to attack NATO. Have you lost your mind? Are you as thick as two short planks? Who made this up? It's nonsense, it's bollocks," Putin told reporters.

Russia denied for months that it was preparing a military offensive in Ukraine before launching the assault on Feb. 24, 2022, accusing Western powers of trying to use their Ukrainian ally to harm Russia.

Putin criticised the West's delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine, arguing Moscow could arm other countries with similar weapons to attack Western targets.

The comments came after several Western countries including the United States gave Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia, a move Moscow has called a grave miscalculation.

"If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a warzone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don't we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those (Western) countries," Putin said.

"That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it," he told reporters.

Putin warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine were "a very negative step", saying that donors were "controlling" the weapons.

The Russian leader singled out Germany for particular criticism, saying that when the first German-supplied tanks "appeared on Ukrainian soil, it provoked a moral and ethical shock in Russia" because of the legacy of World War II.

Referring to German authorities, he said: "When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations."

  'Irrecoverable losses' 

Sitting opposite representatives from news outlets including AFP, Putin repeated that his country "did not start the war against Ukraine", instead blaming a pro-Western revolution in 2014.

"Everyone thinks that Russia started the war in Ukraine. I would like to emphasise that nobody in the West, in Europe, wants to remember how this tragedy started," Putin said.

He declined to give the number of Russia's battlefield losses in the more than two-year conflict, saying only that Ukraine's were five times higher.

"I can tell you that as a rule, no one talks about it," Putin rebuffed, when asked why Russia had not yet disclosed a figure.

"If we talk about irrecoverable losses, the ratio is one to five," he said.

The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in Russia, where all criticism of the conflict is banned and "spreading false information" about the army carries a maximum 15 year jail sentence.

When asked about the killing of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in Ukraine last year, likely as a result of Russian rocket fire, Putin indicated Moscow was ready to help investigate.

"We will do everything in our power," he said.

"We are ready to do this work. I do not know how it could be done in practice since this person died in a warzone."

  'Burned to the ground' 

Putin was also probed about what a victory for former U.S. President Donald Trump or incumbent Joe Biden would mean for U.S.-Russia relations — an issue the Russian leader shrugged off.

"By and large there's no difference," he said.

However he called Trump's recent criminal charges for business fraud politically motivated, arguing his conviction "burned" the idea that Washington was a leading democracy.

"It is obvious all over the world that the prosecution of Trump... is simply the utilisation of the judicial system during an internal political struggle," Putin said.

"Their supposed leadership in the sphere of democracy is being burned to the ground," the Russian leader added.

Trump became the first former U.S. head of state ever convicted of a crime last week after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony charges in a hush money case.

Trump, who faces an election in November that could see him return to the White House, has praised Putin as a "smart guy".

Putin also said Russia and the United States were in "constant contact" over a possible prisoner exchange that would free jailed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich who was arrested on espionage charges last year.

"The relevant services in the U.S. and Russia are in constant contact with one another and of course they will decide only on the basis of reciprocity," Putin said.