Trump says Putin will not attack NATO territory, downplays Ratcliffe trip

Washington: US President Donald Trump ​said on Thursday ​that Russian President Vladimir Putin ​will not attack a NATO country, and he played down media reports that CIA Director ‌John Ratcliffe ⁠warned ⁠Russian officials against such an attack earlier ​in the week.

"He's not going to attack a NATO ​territory," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier in the day, Trump ​told Axios in a phone ⁠interview that ‌there would be no ​such ​attack, and that Ratcliffe had ⁠not been dispatched to Moscow to deliver ​any particular message.


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"Ratcliffe sees his ​Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing ‌unusual," Trump told the news outlet.

European and U.S. intelligence officials have ​long ​monitored Russian ⁠sabotage and gray zone attacks in Europe that fall below the threshold of full-on war ​and are generally aimed at weakening NATO's unity and its member states' willingness to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

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