Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas. The war has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
Rutte, in a speech in Berlin on Thursday, said that NATO should be “prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured” and asserted that “we are Russia’s next target.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed claims by NATO and some European leaders that it plans to attack a NATO member as “nonsense” used by European leaders to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.
“This seems like a statement by a representative of a generation that has managed to forget what World War Two was actually like,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.
“They have no understanding, and unfortunately, Mr. Rutte, making such irresponsible statements, simply does not understand what he is talking about.”
European and Ukrainian leaders say that if Russia wins in Ukraine then it will attack NATO. Moscow says NATO’s enlargement eastwards is a threat to Russia. Russia has said it does not intend to attack NATO.President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Russia does not want a war with Europe but that if Europe starts one, then Russia was ready and that such a war would end very swiftly.
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