Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has said that talk of an allegedly inevitable clash between Europe and Russia is "lies and delusion", accused NATO states of building up their arsenals and boasted about Russia's nuclear forces.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet Interfax, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Putin said that Europeans were having fears about an inevitable clash with Russia "driven into their heads", and that they were being told they needed to prepare for a major war.

"I have already said many times that this is a lie, a delusion about some imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But they are doing this quite deliberately," he said.

Instead, Putin accused NATO states of "actively building up and modernising their offensive forces, and creating and deploying new types of weapons, including in outer space".

At the same time, he stressed that Russia's nuclear shield "is more modern than the nuclear component of any official nuclear-armed state". He added that "92% is the modernity of our nuclear forces", and claimed that "no other nuclear country in the world has anything like this".

"This does not exist anywhere else in the world and will not appear any time soon. I have named them, we know them, this includes Avangard and Burevestnik, and so on. And the Ground Forces are also growing and becoming stronger," Putin said.

Background:

• On 4 December, a Russian representative speaking at a ministerial meeting of the OSCE in Vienna accused Western states of deliberately preparing for an armed confrontation with the Russian Federation.
• On 2 December, Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is "ready" for war if Europe "wants to fight".
• In late November, Putin claimed that Russia is prepared to state in writing that it does not intend to attack Europe.

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