Putin says Russia is not preparing to attack Europe, but evokes a 'powerful' response to Ukraine

Is he looking for appeasement… or conflagration? Vladimir Putin assured this Friday evening that Russia “was not preparing to wage hostilities against Europe”, according to statements reported by several Russian press agencies including Tass and Interfax.

While the war in Ukraine still rages more than four years after its start, European intelligence services have been on red alert for several weeks against the possibility of destabilizing actions by Moscow against the European Union.

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“Powerful” response from Russia

The Russian president, whose United Russia party has just won the parliamentary elections, also declared that the Kremlin would “think carefully” about resuming talks with kyiv after the vote, even if there were “attempts” to attack Ukraine against Moscow and polling stations.

“Russia has recovered from the Ukrainian attacks,” he also said, according to the Tass agency, stressing that “Russia’s response was so powerful that kyiv requested a ceasefire.” The most recent truce agreement dates back to September 5, in the context of the arrival of American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to the region.

Vladimir Putin, however, indicated that he still considered a “peace agreement”. The Russian president also considered that “the rights of Russian speakers” were “violated in the Baltic countries”.