Putin: Russia Has No Reason for Conflict With Europe

❐ International Desk

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, India, that Russia is not a threat to European countries and has no intention of threatening them. He said that no one should consider that Russia has no reason to engage in conflict with Europe.

According to Putin, all the main issues were settled by World War II, and everything that happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union was done with the consent of Russia as a successor state. According to him, anything that goes against that understanding is against Russia’s interests and contradicts the principles of international law and the UN Charter.

At the same time, Putin also sent a strong message to Europe regarding Ukraine. He said that deploying European troops on Ukrainian territory would be tantamount to declaring war on Russia. He also accused European leaders of spreading fear among their own people by portraying imaginary threats from Russia.

Putin met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday, where the two leaders discussed cooperation in trade, energy, technology and defence. This was the second meeting between the two leaders in the past two weeks – they had previously met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek on August 31.

Speaking at the BRICS Business Forum, Putin said the world is undergoing deep and structural changes, and Russia is ready to contribute to energy and food security. He also expressed Russia’s interest in new initiatives in the tourism, industry and trade sectors.

Putin’s comments come amid the war in Ukraine and the crisis in West Asia, as some European countries are discussing the possibility of deploying troops to Ukraine as part of a future peace deal—although no such deployment has actually taken place yet.