"Do they want to revise the results of World War II? What are they pushing the peoples of their countries toward now? Toward war with the Russian Federation?" Putin said, according to The Moscow Times. He said Europe was "pushing its countries" toward conflict with Russia.
Immediately afterward, Putin said Russia had "never threatened" Europeans and that any threat from Moscow was a fabrication. "There is no such threat and there never was. We do not threaten and do not intend to threaten European countries. Why would we?" he said.
According to Putin, all issues were settled by the results of World War II, and what happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union was done with Russia's consent as the successor to the USSR. He claims that any changes contradicting those agreements run counter to Russia's interests and do not conform to the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter.
The trigger for Putin's comments was the victory of Alternative for Germany (AfD) in elections in Saxony-Anhalt. According to Agentstvo, Putin presented the far-right party's result as a consequence of "systemic mistakes" by European "globalist elites" and called the discussion of sending European troops to Ukraine a continuation of that course.
The possibility of deploying a European contingent on Ukrainian territory was actively discussed earlier this year amid peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. At that time, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and France signed a declaration on stationing European peacekeepers in Ukraine after a peace treaty between Kyiv and Moscow was signed.
In recent months, concerns have increasingly been voiced in Europe that Russia could attack one of the countries on NATO's eastern flank, for example one of the Baltic states.