U.S. President Donald Trump said in a telephone interview with Axios on Thursday that he is not concerned about a Russian attack on NATO countries.
"I'm not concerned at all… There is no problem," Trump said when asked about a possible Russian provocation against NATO countries.
Axios said that this question to Trump arose amid concerns among European leaders that Moscow might test NATO's resolve – and Trump's commitment to Article 5, the alliance's collective defense clause – through a limited attack or other military provocations, as well as in connection with CIA Director John Ratcliffe's trip to Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin. Several media outlets reported that the visit was an attempt to deter Moscow from attacking a NATO country. But Trump denied these reports. Trump called Ratcliffe's trip "standard business" and expressed puzzlement over the media accounts of it.
"Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual," Trump said.
As the publication notes, Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, confirmed on Thursday that he had met with Ratcliffe during his visit to Moscow. He said the talks were "a regular part of their work" and that "there was nothing out of the ordinary."
Naryshkin said he discussed "intelligence matters" with Ratcliffe.
Axios notes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the publication in July that Putin is planning a massive mobilization of 500,000 troops in the coming months to resume the offensive in Ukraine. Zelenskyy stated that Russia is also building infrastructure to accommodate 30,000 additional troops from North Korea, who will be sent to fight in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Russian drones that entered the airspace of several NATO members, including Romania and Poland, have been shot down.
On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the United Kingdom and France are "playing with fire" by supplying Ukraine with technology that enables long-range attacks deep inside Russia. A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry threatened to strike British military targets in Ukraine and beyond in response to the United Kingdom's military aid to Ukraine.
