Russia has no plans to attack any NATO country, President Vladimir Putin said on March 28, but he warned that Moscow's forces could target NATO bases if they host F-16 fighter jets flying combat sorties in Ukraine.
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"We have no aggressive intentions toward [NATO] states," Putin told air force pilots at a facility in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, according to a Kremlin transcript.
He said it would be "complete nonsense" to suggest that Russia would attack countries such as Poland, the Baltic states, and the Czech Republic, adding: "Just nonsense, another way to cheat their population and force them to allocate additional resources."
Ukraine is awaiting the delivery of F-16s from Western countries that have promised to send Kyiv at least 42 F-16s. Ukrainian pilots have been training in the West for months on how to fly the warplanes.
Asked whether Russian pilots would be "allowed" to attack F-16 warplanes deployed at airfields in NATO countries if they were used against Russia, Putin indicated that Moscow would consider them fair game if F-16s based there flew combat sorties in Ukraine.
"Of course, if they are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, no matter where they are located," he said.
F-16s delivered to Ukraine are to be housed by Ukrainian air bases. However, it remains unclear how many Ukrainian air bases can accommodate F-16s, which require high-quality runways and well-protected, well-camouflaged hangars.
In Ukraine, Putin said, Russia would seek to destroy F-16s "the same way we destroy their tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment today, including multiple-launch rocket systems." He asserted that the delivery of the warplanes to Ukraine "will not change the situation on the battlefield."
Putin also said that, when conducting military planning, Russia would take into account that F-16s can carry nuclear weapons. Ukraine renounced nuclear arms in the 1990s and there is no talk of equipping the jets with any such weapons.
Putin's assurance that Russia has "no aggressive intentions" against NATO may ring hollow in the alliance, because he has made many false claims about various aspects of Russia's war against Ukraine, among other things.
Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, dismissed U.S. and other Western countries' warnings that an invasion was imminent.