A Kremlin spokesperson said that Putin’s harsh statement toward NATO members does not mean Moscow is against negotiating a nuclear pact with Washington.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a straightforward message for Western leaders as nuclear tensions continue to escalate between Moscow and Washington, D.C.
« We have more [nuclear] weapons than NATO countries, » Putin said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. « They know about it, and they keep nudging us to start negotiations to decrease it. Screw them, you know, as people say. »
Putin’s comments were translated to English by Anton Gerashchenko, former deputy minister of internal affairs for Ukraine, on Twitter. Other translations of the statement quote Putin as saying, « F*** them. »
The harsh words arrived a few minutes after Putin announced that Russia had officially moved some tactical nuclear warheads to Belarus as previously promised to Belarusian President and Kremlin ally Alexander Lukashenko.
