Vladimir Putin has told the West that it has nothing to fear, yet the conflict in Ukraine is flaring again.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is warning his citizens of a full-scale Russian invasion.

Contacts between NATO and Russian forces have increased markedly.

Reports of Russian strategic bombers close to the UK, and of a Russian submarine in Finnish territorial waters, have grabbed headlines.

“Russia doesn’t claim any hegemony or any ephemeral superpower status,” Putin said. “We are not imposing our standards and our behavior and development models on anyone.

We want equitable relations with all members of the international community, including the U.S., the European Partners, and those in Asia

The Russian president tells the West to stop using the language of ultimatums as he boasts of Russia’s ‘success’ avoiding a crisis after sanctions Russia is not building up its offensive military capabilities overseas and is only responding to security threats caused by US and NATO military expansion on its borders,

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian outlet Il Corriere della Sera.

Speaking to the paper on the eve of his visit to Italy, Putin stressed that one should not take the ongoing “Russian aggression” scaremongering in the West seriously, as a global military conflict is unimaginable in the modern world.

“I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO. I think some countries are simply taking advantage of people’s fears with regard to Russia.

They just want to play the role of front-line countries that should receive some supplementary military, economic, financial or some other aid,” Putin said.

Certain countries could be deliberately nurturing such fears, he added, saying that hypothetically the US could need an external threat to maintain its leadership in the Atlantic community. “Iran is clearly not very scary or big enough” for this, Putin noted with irony. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday other countries should not have the illusion that they can attain military superiority over Russia, Interfax reported.

He explained that Moscow had tried to dissuade the US from withdrawing from the treaty, and instead “create an ABM system together, the three of us: Russia, the United States and Europe.” This proposal was declined, and Russia had to, likewise, begin developing “overpowering anti-ballistic defense” systems to ensure strategic balance. According to Putin, Russia has made “significant strides in this area.”

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