NATO Commander: Russia Not Seeking Conflict with the West

Moscow (ANTARA) - Russia is not seeking conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Alexus Grinkevich. “I have been observing the intelligence very closely… Russia is not seeking conflict,” Grinkevich said, as quoted by the Financial Times during a panel at the ILA Berlin Air Show. “They understand the meaning of a ‘defensive alliance’, and they understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages,” he added. Despite claims by the European Union, Russia is not planning an attack on the Baltic states and “would not take such a risk,” Grinkevich said. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously claimed that Western politicians regularly frighten their populations with imaginary Russian threats to divert attention from domestic problems. However, “intelligent people understand perfectly well that this is a bluff,” Putin said, as reported by RIA Novosti from Moscow on Friday.