Putin announced the number of "strike groups put together by the United States near the borders of Russia"

NATO strike groups are being formed and put together at the Russian borders, the number of American troops in Europe has already exceeded 100 thousand people. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, which is being held at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation.

"At the same time, under the pretext of the mythical Russian threat... they simply frighten their population with the fact that we are going to attack someone, because the tactics are very simple: they bring us to the red line, through which we can no longer retreat, we begin to respond, immediately frighten their population - back then, in ancient times, the Soviet — now it is already a Russian threat," he said.

"Meanwhile, NATO countries themselves are increasing military spending. Near the Russian borders, strike groups of alliance troops are being formed and put together. So, the number of American military personnel in Europe has already exceeded 100 thousand people," Putin stated.

According to him, "the activities of the United States in creating and preparing for the deployment of high-precision ground-based strike weapons with a firing range of up to 5,500 kilometers in advanced zones are of no less concern."

"At the same time, the transfer and deployment of these missile systems in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region," the head of state added.