Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s description of Moscow as a “paper tiger,” turning the remark back on NATO and warning Washington against supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said Russian forces were advancing across the Ukrainian front and accused NATO of effectively fighting alongside Kyiv.
“If we are a ‘paper tiger’ while fighting the entire NATO bloc and still advancing, then what is NATO itself?” he asked.
Trump, who previously urged Ukraine to cede territory to secure peace, shifted tone last week, saying Kyiv could regain all occupied land and branding Russia a “paper tiger”, a phrase he repeated this week.
Putin dismissed European complaints about Russian drones allegedly crossing NATO airspace, joking he did not possess drones capable of flying as far as Lisbon. European authorities have accused Russia of repeated violations, including drone incursions over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.
The Russian leader struck a more serious note when addressing the potential U.S. supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, warning it would mark “a qualitatively new stage of escalation” because such weapons require American military involvement. Washington has not confirmed any such decision.
Putin urged NATO members to “cool down, sleep calmly, and take care of your own problems,” accusing them of fueling hysteria about a supposed Russian attack on a NATO state. He claimed Ukraine’s armed forces were suffering from manpower shortages and desertions, while Russia had sufficient troops.
According to Putin, Russian forces now control almost all of Luhansk province, around 81% of Donetsk, and roughly three-quarters of both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
He suggested Kyiv should negotiate an end to the war, which he cast as a turning point in Moscow’s strained relationship with the West since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Western leaders and Ukraine, however, describe Russia’s invasion as an imperial-style land grab and insist that Moscow must be defeated to ensure European security.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
