Putin dismisses NATO rearmament efforts as ‘nonsense’

ISTANBUL

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed NATO’s military buildup as unjustified and irrelevant, saying the alliance’s push to increase defense spending poses no threat to Moscow.

“We do not consider any rearmament of NATO to be a threat to the security of the Russian Federation,” Putin said Thursday during a meeting with international news agency executives in St. Petersburg.

“Any rearmament of NATO countries makes no sense,” he added, specifically criticizing proposals to raise defense budgets to 5% of GDP.

Putin also denounced Western narratives about Russian "aggression" as unfounded.

“The legend that Russia is going to attack NATO is nonsense,” he said.

Taking aim at the alliance’s global military expenditures, Putin noted that “NATO countries spend $1.4 trillion on defense, more than all the world’s countries combined.”

He further accused Western powers of double standards, saying: “You write rules for others, but you yourself are not going to follow them. Who will live by such rules?”

His remarks came amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO over Ukraine, defense posturing in Eastern Europe, and recent proposals within the alliance to boost long-term defense commitments.