Kremlin blasts Obama's statement on Russia-West ties

The Kremlin on Tuesday slammed U.S. President Barack Obama's remarks that Moscow sees the West as a threat to Russia.

"Talking about who presents a threat to whom, I think we should probably not forget the frequent statements we have heard over the past few years from Brussels and from NATO leaders, that they consider Russia a threat," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

He made the remarks following Obama's recent interview with the television station CBS, where he said that Russian President Vladimir Putin viewed "NATO, the EU, and the trans-Atlantic unity as a threat to Russian power."

While blasting NATO's continuous military build-up near Russia's borders, Peskov said that Putin has repeatedly voiced Moscow's readiness to develop a constructive relationship with anyone, including NATO.

NATO, a military alliance of 26 European and two North American countries, is in the process of taking in new member states from Eastern and Southern Europe.

The incorporation of countries formerly under the influence of the Soviet Union has been a point of growing tension between Russia and the alliance. Endi