MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The United States will have to change the nature of its relations with the NATO allies as the premise of U.S. protection from the Russian threat is no longer working, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The U.S. has been saying: 'We're an 'umbrella' for you against the Soviet threat and you need to pay for that'. Today, that's not really working, despite all the problems with Ukraine, with the speculation on Crimea and Donbas," Putin said at a plenary session of the Russia Calling! investment forum.
"Everyone understands very well that Russia is not going to attack anyone," Putin said.
"How many people live in the EU, how many residents of the NATO countries are in NATO, what is the total economic and military potential? It's just nonsense. The Russian threat is an invention of those who want to benefit from their role as an advanced unit for fighting with Russia, to get some bonuses and preferences for this," he said.
Nevertheless, the lifespan of such rhetoric has certain time limits and that is already obvious to the leaders of leading European countries, Putin said. "Therefore, the U.S. will need to take some steps to change the quality of its relations with the allies in NATO," he said.
"Now, it is not enough to say 'we are defending you, pay for it'. Why are they going to pay for maintaining the defense sector and maintaining jobs in the U.S.? They'll develop their own. They're talking about that now. Therefore, it takes more thorough work, guys," Putin said.