By Dmitry Antonov MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that European claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to restore the Soviet Union were wrong and that claims Putin
Kremlin Denies Putin's Plans to Restore USSR or Attack NATO
By Dmitry Antonov
MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that European claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to restore the Soviet Union were wrong and that claims Putin plans to invade a NATO member were complete stupidity.
Putin, who was born in the Soviet Union, in 2005 cast the collapse of the Soviet Union as the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century because tens of millions of Russians were impoverished and Russia itself faced the threat of disintegration.
Opponents say Putin's Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union. Western leaders say that Putin, if he wins in Ukraine, will one day attack NATO.
Putin has repeatedly denied that he has any plans to attack NATO and has said that such a step would be foolish for Russia given the conventional military superiority of NATO over Russia.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Putin wanted to bring the "old Soviet Union" back and that Europe had to defend itself against what he said were clear Russian intentions, set out, he said, in Russian state doctrines, to attack NATO.
"This is not true," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Merz's remarks. "Vladimir Putin does not want to restore the U.S.S.R. because it is impossible, and he himself has repeatedly said this."
"To talk about it is not respectful to our partners," Peskov said. "Apparently, Mr. Merz does not know this."
"As for preparing for an attack on NATO, this is complete stupidity," Peskov said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Kirsti Knolle in Berlin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
