European Commissioner for Defence and Space from Lithuania Andrius Kubilius said that statements by European officials about Russia being vulnerable to NATO should not be taken seriously.

Speaking in Spain’s parliament, Kubilius urged lawmakers not to portray Russia as small and weak while presenting Europe as strong and guaranteed to defeat it. He said such rhetoric is not serious. Kubilius sought to convince skeptical deputies that Europe must spend billions on defence and preparation for a possible «threat of attack» from Russia. He also stated that Russia is capable of operating millions of unmanned aerial vehicles and is as strong in drones as Ukraine.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas made statements suggesting that Moscow would be unable to defeat NATO or the European Union.

In recent years, Russia has repeatedly spoken about what it describes as unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. NATO has expanded its initiatives, calling them «deterrence of aggression.» Moscow has expressed concern about the buildup of what it calls unfriendly forces in Europe, while the Kremlin has said Russia threatens no one but will not ignore risks to its interests.

Vladimir Putin has said that the idea of a possible «Russian invasion» was invented in the West to frighten the public. Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov has also argued that an alleged Russian threat is used to extract more money from taxpayers.