Putin says Russia has no interest or reason to fight NATO

“The entire NATO organization cannot fail to understand that Russia has no reason, no interest – neither geopolitical interest, nor economic, nor political, nor military – to fight with NATO countries,” he said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Washington will have to take Russia into account and find common ground with it, he continued, adding, “They will have to find common ground with us, because they will have to take us into account.”

Western countries, believing that such a big Russia is not needed, want to divide and subdue it, the president stated

“After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, [Western politicians] believed that all they needed was a little patience and Russia would have completely collapsed,” he said, adding that such a relatively large country by European standards – with the largest territory in the world and a fairly large number of inhabitants compared to other European countries – “is generally not needed”.

“It would be better, as suggested by a well-known political figure in the United States [former US presidential adviser Zbigniew] Brzezinski, to divide it into five parts and subdue these parts and use the resources.”