NATO drawing Russia into confrontation, says Putin

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told the annual meeting of Russia’s Federal Security Service NATO was dragging the country into a confrontation, the Kremlin has said.

The Russian leader said a NATO summit in July 2016 had described Russia as a major security threat “for the first time since 1989”.

He also accused NATO of accelerating a process of deploying conventional and strategic weapons beyond its member states' borders.

"They provoke us [Russia] and tend to draw us into a confrontation," Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin also called for anti-terror cooperation with foreign partners.

"First and foremost, of course, we have to strengthen work with our partners in such organizations like the UN, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," he said.

Putin also said dialogue should be restored with the intelligence services of the U.S. and member countries of NATO, claiming even a "simple" exchange could improve joint efforts.