Russia has no designs on any NATO country and will not attack Poland, the Baltic states or the Czech Republic but if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine then they will be shot down by Russian forces, President Vladimir Putin said late on Wednesday.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Speaking to Russian air force pilots, Putin said the U.S.-led military alliance had expanded eastwards towards Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union but that Moscow had no plans to attack a NATO state.
I think the story is about “the dog that didn’t bark”. Other Russian officials (including the former president) as well as media mouthpieces have openly advocated attacking NATO countries, whereas Putin declares that Russia won’t. It’s newsworthy, even if it’s as obviously manufactured as any good-cop-bad-cop routine.