Ryabkov says Russia has no plans to attack Western countries

Statement at the OSCE venue

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov spoke at a round table on the militarization of Europe held at the OSCE venue and stated that Russia threatens no one and does not intend to attack anyone. “Russia has neither the intentions, nor the plans, nor the reasons to attack Western countries,” TASS quotes him as saying (Gazeta.Ru report).

Context of recent statements

Ryabkov's statement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin's address at the plenary session of the XXIII annual meeting of the international discussion club Valdai. According to Putin, Russia does not attack other countries and does not seize foreign territories, but merely responds to decisions taken with regard to Russia. He also answered a question from the expert community of the kind “Russia talks about peace while itself starting a war”: in his view, it was not Russia that started fighting, but rather Russia was fought against, opponents aimed at a strategic defeat of the Russian Federation, and Russia itself was deliberately pushed into the Ukrainian conflict.

What is known and what remains unclear

Apart from the Russian side's position, the report only mentions that earlier NATO's supreme commander spoke about a potential war with Russia, — the content of that statement is not disclosed in the available material. Thus, the reader has access only to statements by the Russian side; the reaction of Western participants in the discussion at the OSCE venue and details of the NATO representative's remarks are not given in the source.