MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed accusations that Russia is being aggressive and insisted that its actions are a response to emerging threats.
“Everything we do is just a response to the threats emerging against us.
Besides, what we do is limited in scope and scale, which are, however,
sufficient to ensure Russia’s security. Or did someone expect Russia to disarm
unilaterally?” Putin said in an interview to Il Corriere della Sera in the
run-up to a visit to Italy.
To uphold his premise, Putin pointed out that the U.S. military spending is
higher than that of all countries in the world taken together, the aggregate
military spending of NATO countries is 10 times higher than that of Russia. He
acknowledged that some Russian military units are present in Tajikistan, on the
border with Afghanistan, which is an area where the terrorist threat is
particularly high, and the Russian airbase in Kyrgyzstan plays a similar
role.
At the same time, Russia has dismantled its bases in different parts of the
world, he said.
“This means that our policy in this respect is not global, offensive or
aggressive,” he said.
Putin pointed out that U.S. military bases are located all over the world,
and American submarines are on permanent alert off the Norwegian coast, equipped
with missiles that can reach Moscow in 17 minutes.
Russia has dismantled all of its bases in Cuba a long time ago, even the
non-strategic ones, while NATO’s infrastructure is moving towards Russia’s
borders, the U.S. has unilaterally withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty, and its anti-missile systems, bases and radars are located in the
European territory, in the Mediterranean, and in Alaska, Putin said.
“Is this a manifestation of our aggression?” Putin said.
