President Vladimir Putin called claims that Russian forces will move into Europe if it conquers Ukraine "drivel" and threatened to shoot down any F-16 fighter jets supplied to Kyiv by the U.S. or its Western allies.
"We have no aggressive intentions towards these states," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"The idea that we will attack some other country - Poland, the Baltic States, and the Czechs are also being scared - is complete nonsense. It's just drivel," the Russian leader said.
Putin, speaking to Russian air force pilots, reiterated the accusations that partly prompted his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that NATO has expanded eastward toward Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
"As for the allegations that we are planning to invade Europe after Ukraine, this is utter nonsense meant solely to intimidate their population to make them pay more money," he said, TASS, the Russian news agency, reported.
Putin's comments come as Sweden said it will deploy troops in Latvia to bolster the NATO presence there, declaring that Russia is an "obvious military threat."
Putin also said the F-16s, which the West has said they will send to Ukraine, will not affect the war in Ukraine.
"If they supply F-16s, and they are talking about this and are apparently training pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield," Putin said "And we will destroy the aircraft just as we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers."
Putin also suggested the warplanes could be outfitted with nuclear weapons.
"Of course, if they will be used from airfields in third countries, they become for us legitimate targets wherever they might be located," Putin said.
Ambassador Axel Wernhoff said the Scandinavian country will begin to deploy troops in Latvia beginning in November to strengthen the NATO presence there.
"At this stage, we have no illusions about Russia," Wernhoff said. "The NATO Strategic Concept defines Russia very clearly as the obvious military threat. I think we will have to live with this for decades."
Shortly before Putin's remarks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said fighter jets should arrive in Ukraine in the next few months.
Ukraine has been pleading with the U.S. and other Western nations to supply the F-16s to counter Russia's air superiority.
The U.S. has said it will send the fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands.
