Western claims of a Russian threat are a \u201cdeliberate\u201d attempt to inflame tensions, the president has said<\/p>\n
Moscow is not preparing for military action against European countries, President Vladimir Putin has said, dismissing claims of a Russian threat as an attempt to inflame tensions.
\nSpeaking to the media on the sidelines of the 12th United Cultures Forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said European countries were fueling tensions in order to continue supporting Ukraine.
\nHe accused \u201caggressive circles\u201d in Europe of seeking to use Ukraine as \u201ccannon fodder\u201d to constrain Russia\u2019s development.
\nPutin described remarks by the Estonian defense minister about a possible conflict with Russia as a \u201cprovocation,\u201d and referred to statements about the benefits of a preemptive attack on Russia as \u201cpolitical clownery.\u201d
\n\u201cThe circus has left, but the clowns remain,\u201d he said.
\nDETAILS TO FOLLOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Western claims of a Russian threat are a \u201cdeliberate\u201d attempt to inflame tensions, the president has said Moscow is not preparing for military action against European countries, President Vladimir Putin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t