Russia has no plans to target any NATO country and will not attack Poland, the Baltic states or the Czech Republic, but Russian forces will shoot down F-16 jets if the West delivers them to Kiev, President Vladimir Putin said late Wednesday.
Addressing Russian air force pilots, Putin said the US-led military alliance had expanded eastward toward Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but that Moscow had no plans to attack the NATO country.
"We have no aggressive intentions towards these countries," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released Thursday.
"The idea that we will attack another country – Poland and the Baltic states, and the Czechs are also afraid – is complete nonsense," added the President of Russia.
The Kremlin, which accuses the US of fighting Russia by supporting Ukraine with money, weapons and intelligence, says relations with Washington have probably never been worse.
Asked about the F-16 planes that the West promised to send to Ukraine, Putin said that such planes would not change the situation in Ukraine.
"If they deliver the F-16, and they talk about it and obviously train the pilots, it won't change the situation on the battlefield," Putin said.
He added that Russian forces will destroy Western planes, stating that they are now destroying tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment.
Putin said that the F-16 can also carry nuclear weapons.
"Of course, if they are used from airports in third countries, they become legitimate targets for us, wherever they are," Putin said.
Putin's comments followed Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba's comments earlier on Wednesday that US-made F-16s should arrive in Ukraine in the coming months.
Ukraine, which has been at full-scale war with Russia for more than two years now, has long sought the F-16. Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have pledged to donate F-16s, and a coalition of countries has pledged to help train Ukrainian pilots to use them.
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