US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attack a NATO country.

He also played down reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had warned Russian officials against such an attack during his visit to Moscow earlier this week.

“He's not going to attack a NATO territory”, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump told Axios in a phone interview that Ratcliffe had not traveled to Moscow with any specific message.

“Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual”, Trump told Axios.

European and US intelligence officials have long monitored Russian sabotage and so-called gray zone attacks in Europe that fall below the threshold of open warfare. Such operations are generally aimed at weakening NATO unity and member states’ willingness to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.

(Reuters, lud)