Putin threatens ‘countermeasures’ to NATO expansion

MOSCOW — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is warning his forces could target NATO sites if the country feels threatened, sharply raising the stakes against the Western alliance even as Presidentelect Donald Trump calls for greater outreach with the Kremlin.

“We must take countermeasures — that is, strike with our missile systems the targets that, in our opinion, begin to threaten us,” Putin said in an interview with American filmmaker Oliver Stone for a documentary broadcast Monday.

Putin’s comments were among his sharpest rebukes to NATO as the alliance increasingly focuses on perceived threats from Russia. Earlier Monday, Russia announced it has bolstered its defensive missile strength in the Eastern European enclave of Kaliningrad.

For years, the Kremlin has voiced concerns about the membership in NATO of former Soviet republics and countries from the former East Bloc. Putin said smaller NATO countries would find it “next to impossible to resist pressure from a major NATO leader such as the United States” to deploy missile systems or host new bases.

“And what are we supposed to do? We are forced to take countermeasures — that is, to aim our missile systems at those facilities which we think pose a threat to us,” he stressed. “The situation is heating up.”

NATO, meanwhile, has moved to strengthen its presence along its eastern flanks, including the Baltic states. But a major wild card has been introduced by the election victory of Trump, who has suggested that his administration will seek to improve relations with Russia.

“Why are we reacting to NATO expansion so emotionally? We are concerned by NATO’s decision-making,” Putin said in Stone’s “Ukraine on Fire.”

Hours before the broadcast, Russia said it had deployed mobile missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave wedged between Lithuania and Poland. In October, Putin stationed nuclear-capable cruise missiles in Kaliningrad.