MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. NATO is now only a tool of Washington's foreign policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel journalist Pavel Zarubin.
"I believe that NATO is of no use at all anymore, there is no sense [in it]. There is only one point - it is an instrument of the US foreign policy," Putin said.
Commenting on former US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that European countries should pay the United States for protection, Putin said: "Let them sort it out by themselves; it’s their problems. Apparently, he [Trump] sees some logic in it. But from the Europeans’ point of view, there is none. They want the United States to continue exercising certain functions, which emerged when NATO was founded, free of charge."
"If the United States believes that they don’t need this tool anymore, it will be their decision," Putin said.
On February 10, Trump, who is seeking the US presidential nomination from the Republican Party, while speaking to his supporters in the state of South Carolina, recalled one of his meetings with NATO leaders. According to him, one of the presidents then asked him whether the US was ready to defend the alliance in case of an alleged threat from Russia if the country did not make defense contributions to NATO.
Back then, Trump responded that he would not defend such a country and, moreover, "would encourage them to do whatever the hell they (Russian authorities - TASS) want." The former president did not specify when and where this conversation occurred and which of the leaders asked him such a question.