Donald Trump (Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian dictator Vladimir
Putin does not intend to attack the territory of European NATO
members.
Trump made the remarks during a briefing in the Oval Office on
Sept. 4.
“I speak to him. I know him very well. Putin’s not looking
to attack NATO territory,” Trump said.
He also repeated his claim that Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Kremlin leader have a “hate each other.”
“There is a personality problem. Zelenskyy and Putin — they
really hate each other. Do you know what hatred is? They have serious hatred.
This hatred is getting in their way,” Trump said.
In August, The Wall Street Journal reported that
Putin could try to test NATO’s readiness for collective defense by attacking
one of the alliance’s members sometime between this fall and 2029.
According to U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence,
various scenarios are being considered, ranging from cyberattacks and hybrid
operations to a limited invasion of a country on NATO’s eastern flank.
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