President Trump on Thursday declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not escalate conflict with America’s NATO allies.
“I don’t want to comment on that, but they’re not going to attack,” Mr. Trump told reporters at a White House event where he announced he was renaming Lake Ontario Lake America.
Mr. Trump’s comments come days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to warn Russian officials not to attack Eastern European NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The White House and CIA have not publicly commented on Mr. Ratcliffe’s rare, unannounced trip to the Russian capital.
Mr. Putin has not explicitly threatened a conventional invasion of a NATO country, but Western intelligence agencies and military officials warn that Russia may test the alliance with limited incursions or hybrid attacks.
Although much of the intelligence has centered around the Baltic states, Russia has issued rebukes and threats aimed at Great Britain and its new prime minister, Andy Burnham. Last week, Moscow warned the U.K. that supplying Ukraine with drones would lead to “consequences for which it will have to answer.”
Earlier this week, Mr. Burnham traveled to Kyiv, prompting Russia to accuse him of “pouring oil on a fire.”
Russian officials have dismissed the reports of a pending attack on Baltic countries as blatantly untrue, calling them “scare stories.”
Mr. Ratcliffe’s visit to Russia came as Russia and Ukraine exchanged missile and drone strikes, stretching beyond the front lines.
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