Flashback to 2022? Putin finds it 'hard to believe' in plans to attack NATO
Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
The Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia’s plans to attack NATO are supposedly "nonsense" that "is impossible to believe," Putin made this statement during his speech at the Valdai Club.
Specifically, the Russian President dared to say that if Europe believes in Russia’s plans to attack NATO countries, then the leaders of European nations are supposedly "incompetent."
"They say that Russia is going to attack NATO. How can anyone believe that? It’s impossible to believe. If they really believe it, they are incompetent,” Putin said.
This has happened before
Before the attack on Ukraine and the start of the full-scale war, the Russian President and his allies made similar statements. For example, on November 3, 2021, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called reports from Western media and intelligence about the concentration of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders "fake."
The spokesman for the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, repeatedly claimed that "Russia has never attacked anyone first" and that statements about the threat of war were "empty, unfounded escalation of tension."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov even mocked then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 21, 2022. On February 15, just nine days before the war began, he said that reports of a potential Russian attack on Ukraine were "information terrorism."
Putin himself also repeatedly lied about there being no war with Ukraine, claiming that the movement and concentration of Russian troops was Russia’s "right" that "posed no threat to anyone."
Putin also repeatedly insisted that "there could not even be a thought" of a war between Ukraine and Russia. Even on the morning of February 24, 2022, when the invasion had already begun, Putin continued lying, stating that Russia "does not plan to occupy Ukraine," which, as became clear, was completely false.
Meanwhile, in June 2025, during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin again made statements about Russia’s plans to attack NATO. At that time, he cynically called such reports "incredible lies." Interestingly, as with Ukraine, this was a reaction to information from Western media: in April, The Wall Street Journal reported on the preparation and redeployment of additional Russian troops to the borders with Europe.
