(PresidentialInsider.com)- In the run-up to Russia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, President Vladimir Putin is ramping up rhetoric and seemingly attempting to rally the people of Russia behind him and his party. On Thursday, Putin threatened to “knock the teeth out” of any country that aims to take a “bite” out of the country.
It was effectively a threat to any Western nation that aims to intervene in Russia’s expansionary attitude and recent threats directed at Ukraine. Some hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have been stationed on the border with Ukraine, with European Union leaders slamming Russia for threatening the country.
“Everyone wants to bite us somewhere or to bite off something from us,” Putin claimed during a televised meeting of the Russian National Security Council on Thursday.
He added that anyone who intends to do so should know that Russia will “knock their teeth out so that they cannot bite.”
Putin said that the key to defending Russian interests was building up its armed forces, but also insisted that he is not following the path of “militarizing our economy.”
Putin has reason to be concerned about other countries reacting to his confrontational attitude with Ukraine. It’s happened before, from European Union member states and the United States. He said that any continued sanctions constitute a continuation of a trend of Western nations attempting to “contain” a powerful rival.
The Russian leader also criticized the United States and other Western countries, without naming them, for saying that Russia shouldn’t keep its rich natural resources (including oil) to itself.
“Even after we lost one-third of our potential, Russia is still too big for some,” Putin continued.
The comments may also have been a reaction from United State Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said at the Arctic Council hosted in Reykjavik that the Arctic is a region for “strategic competition” and that the world must maintain “peaceful cooperation” in the region. It was an obvious dig at Russia’s recent show of force in a military exercise in the Arctic where three Russian submarines broke through the ice.
It’s kind of terrifying that the United States has to leave cooperating with a militaristic Russia down to…President Joe Biden.
