Trump Waves Off Putin NATO Threat Warnings
Trump Waves Off Putin NATO Threat Warnings
The News
President Trump is publicly dismissing warnings that Vladimir Putin could attack a NATO member, saying of the Russian leader: "He's not going to be attacking a NATO territory."
That puts him at odds with reporting on his own CIA director's secret trip to Moscow this week. The Washington Post reported that US intelligence indicates Putin believes Trump has been weakened by the war with Iran — and could use the moment to escalate in Ukraine and press NATO's eastern flank.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to that reporting, warned Russian officials in Moscow that escalating the Ukraine war would backfire by pushing Trump closer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump has described the trip as standard business and said there was no message delivered.
Timeline
A drone loaded with explosives reached a runway at Germany's Leipzig airport, a key logistics hub for moving military equipment to Ukraine, BBC News reported. There is no proof linking the incident to Russia, which denies any role.
Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow for unannounced talks on NATO, Ukraine and Iran — the first visit by a CIA director in more than four years.
The Washington Post reported that intelligence assessments show Putin sees the United States as weakened by the Iran conflict.
Trump dismissed the premise, telling reporters Putin is not going to attack NATO territory.
Senior Western officials told BBC News that Russia wants to avoid a direct military confrontation with NATO, but will keep up "hybrid activity" below that line.
Reactions
Western officials, speaking to BBC News on condition of anonymity, said recent Russian threats against the UK and its weapons factories were "nothing new" and consistent with Moscow's doctrine of pressuring the West. They said Russia would likely continue cyberattacks, sabotage and even assassination attempts aimed at breaking Western support for Ukraine — and warned that strategy carries the risk of a miscalculation that sparks a shooting war.
Putin and his officials have repeatedly called warnings of a Russian attack on NATO countries hysteria. Western officials noted that Putin publicly denied any intention of invading Ukraine shortly before doing exactly that in 2022.
The head of France's security services, after the Leipzig drone incident, warned that "we must consider the possibility of direct, more violent hostile actions on our national soil."
The Washington Examiner argued in a commentary that Putin is testing NATO with GPS spoofing, sabotage and drones because he believes the West will flinch, and that deterrence requires imposing real costs.
On the left, AlterNet reported that sources told MS NOW that Trump is trying a softer approach to Russia as the country enters the 70-day stretch before the November midterms.
What's Next
No named US official has confirmed what Ratcliffe actually told Russian intelligence officials in Moscow.
The pressure point is munitions. The Independent reported estimates that the US has used 50 to 65 percent of its Patriot missiles defending Gulf bases from Iranian strikes, that the Navy has burned through roughly a third to half of its global Tomahawk stock, and that ATACMS and precision strike missile stocks are nearly exhausted. The Council on Foreign Relations has called it a munitions crisis.
European countries have pledged replacement interceptors for Ukraine, but they are not expected to arrive until next year — leaving a near-term gap Russia can exploit.
More
Western officials say the war is grinding on Putin too. Russia is losing 6,000 more soldiers a month, killed or wounded, than it can recruit, they told the BBC, while making only slow gains in the eastern Donbas.
Petrol shortages inside Russia, driven in part by Ukrainian long-range strikes on refineries, are eating into public support for the war. Officials said political pressure on Putin is growing but does not threaten his hold on power, and there is no sign yet that he will order mass mobilization.
An anonymous source told The Washington Post that Ratcliffe's trip was "less about Putin being in a corner" and more because Russia assesses that US stockpiles are depleted and America cannot intervene.
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