JAKARTA - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow did not know how reliable the sources cited by Reuters were, but if the report was accurate then the US intelligence conclusions were wrong.
"This is absolutely not true," Peskov said of the intelligence conclusion, citing Al Arabiya from Reuters (22/12).
The Kremlin said on Monday that if US intelligence believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to seize all of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that were once part of the Soviet Union, then US intelligence is wrong.
Reuters quoted six anonymous sources as saying that US intelligence reports continue to warn President Putin has not abandoned what he has said is his goal of seizing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that were once part of the Soviet Union, including NATO members.
President Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and Russian forces now control about a fifth of the country. Some European and Ukrainian leaders have accused Putin of having ambitions beyond Ukraine.
The Russian president has never said publicly that he wants to conquer all of Ukraine. However, he has repeatedly said that Russian troops will seize more Ukrainian territory if Kyiv does not agree to surrender the remaining Donbas territory in eastern Ukraine that is still controlled by Ukrainian forces.
On the other hand, Moscow sees the expansion of NATO's military alliance to the east, which now includes countries in Eastern Europe that were part of the Soviet bloc after World War II, as a threat to Russia.
President Putin said he was not seeking to restore the Soviet Union or attack NATO members. This month he said Russia did not want war with Europe. But, if Europe started a war, then Russia would win.
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