Putin: Russia is 'calm' about NATO military exercises near its borders
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is "calm," answering the question of how Moscow intends to respond to NATO exercises near Russian borders. According to Putin, Russia does not welcome "attempts to escalate" the tension at its border, but Moscow's reaction will be calm, reports the Kremlin's press service. During a meeting at the Council of Heads of the CIS courties in Ashgabat, Putin also said that Moscow will still speak with NATO on this issue.
Putin recalled that Russia also conducted military drills recently, but not near to the borders of NATO countries. "We purposely conducted military drills in the interior of the country," said Putin, referring to the large-scale Tsentr-2019 military exercises conducted in September.
Earlier, at the CIS Summit, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko also spoke about the NATO military exercises, noting that he and Putin need to think about how to protect their countries during these military drills. Earlier, it was reported , that large-scale military exercises with the participation of almost 40 thousand US and other countries troops will be held in the spring of 2020 in Europe.