US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not going to be attacking a NATO territory.”
Asked in the Oval Office whether Putin had agreed or committed not to attack NATO territory, Trump replied: “I had good talks with him. He’s not going to be attacking a NATO territory.”
About whether he wanted to deliver a warning to Russia not to attack NATO territory, Trump said: “I don’t want to comment on that, but they’re not going to attack.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe recently met Russian officials in Moscow, with some reports claiming he warned Moscow not to escalate conflict with America’s NATO allies over their support for Ukraine.
Trump was also pressed on whether Washington would “punish” Putin or Russia if Moscow continued doing business with Iran despite US warnings.
“It depends. It depends,” Trump said. “So far, I think Russia’s behaved quite well having to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”
In a Thursday interview with Axios, Trump said he was “not concerned ... at all” that Russia would attack a NATO country, saying: “There is no problem.”
Trump also disputed reports that Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to warn Russia against attacking NATO territory.
According to Axios, Trump characterized Ratcliffe’s meeting with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergey Naryshkin as “standard business.”
“Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual,” Trump said.
