Putin says Russia is ready for war with Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 29 that Russia is “ready” for a war with Europe but does not want one, and warned that a conflict between them would leave no winners, responding to European warnings that Moscow could be able to attack NATO by the end of the decade.

Putin made the remarks at a press conference in Moscow after the Russia-Africa summit, held jointly with the African Union’s chairman, Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye, The Moscow Times reported, citing Interfax. He was asked about his recent phone calls with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and said Russia supports any steps to restore full relations with European countries, either with the European Union as a whole or one by one.

“Many are talking about preparing for war by 2030. First of all, we are ready, but we do not want any war with Europe. If they want to prepare, let them prepare,” said Putin.

He added that Europe had not managed to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia and was unlikely to do so by 2030, according to TV Rain.

“If things go too far, there will be no winners at all. Let no one forget that,” Putin said.

Putin also referred to tensions in the Baltic Sea, asking whether anyone wanted the region to end up like the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz, and said Russia did not want that but would respond to any challenge. He did not name any country or describe what kind of response he meant.

The 2030 date Putin cited matches the timeline European governments have set for rearmament. EU states aim to be able to repel a Russian attack by 2030, and several European officials have warned that Russia could rebuild enough military strength to strike a NATO member before then. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the head of Germany’s armed forces, Gen. Carsten Breuer, have said Russia could be capable of a large-scale conventional attack on NATO territory by 2029, and a classified German intelligence and military analysis reported in 2025 said Moscow was preparing the conditions for a conventional war against NATO, with the Baltic states a possible target. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said Europe should be prepared for a possible major conflict with Russia as early as 2027.

The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected those warnings, and Putin has long said Russia has no plans to attack NATO countries. In December 2025, he said that if Europe “suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away,” Fox News reported, while also saying Moscow did not seek war with Europe. European leaders, for their part, say Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, shows why they need to rearm.

Putin’s latest comments came two days after his calls with Stubb and Støre, which European officials have not described in detail. Neither Finland nor Norway, both NATO members that border Russia, had publicly responded to Putin’s remarks by Thursday evening.