NATO Commander: Russia is Not Seeking Conflict with the West

JAKARTA - The Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Europe (SACEUR) Alexus Grinkevich said Russia was not looking for a conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

"I have observed intelligence very carefully... Russia is not looking for conflict," Grinkevich said, as quoted by the Financial Times in a panel at the ILA Berlin Air Show, reported by ANTARA from Sputnik, Friday, June 12.

"They understand the term the meaning of a 'defense alliance', and they understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages," he said.

Despite the EU's claims, Russia does not plan an attack on the Baltic states and "will not take such a risk," Grinkevich said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously claimed that Western politicians regularly frighten their populations with imaginary Russian threats to distract from domestic problems.

However, "intelligent people understand perfectly well that this is a hoax," Putin said, as reported by RIA Novosti from Moscow.