Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken has clarified his statement that NATO could “wipe Moscow off the map,” emphasizing it was made within the framework of the alliance’s deterrence doctrine. The remarks, initially criticized by Russia as reckless, sparked a diplomatic backlash from Moscow, which accused Western Europe of fostering “military psychosis.”
Francken addressed the controversy on Thursday via social media, sharing a screenshot of an X post by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who ridiculed him and praised Russia’s “friends” for testing the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone. The minister reiterated that NATO “is not at war with Russia and has no desire to be,” describing the U.S.-led alliance as inherently defensive. He cited the bloc’s 76-year-old “strike back” principle as a cornerstone of its deterrence strategy, asserting, “That’s what I meant in the… interview, and I don’t take back a single word.”
The comments followed earlier remarks in an interview with Belgian outlet De Morgen, where Francken dismissed concerns about supplying U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine potentially escalating tensions. He argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin would avoid nuclear warfare due to NATO’s capacity to “wipe Moscow off the map,” warning that any attack on Brussels would result in the Russian capital being “flattened.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko condemned Francken’s remarks as emblematic of “the atmosphere of military psychosis” in Western Europe, while the Russian Embassy in Belgium labeled them “absurd and disconnected from reality.” Moscow has framed the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war, asserting that Western arms shipments will only prolong the conflict rather than alter its outcome.
