Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, October 5 described NATO as a throwback to the Cold War era and said it should be transformed into a political organization as soon as possible, RIA Novosti said.

“It is incomprehensible why it’s still around,” Putin said, adding that Russia would like NATO to stay within the bounds of its statutory activity and not strive for global status.

Russia has been and will continue to be concerned by NATO expansion, Putin said.

“Talk is one thing, but the deployment of some attack systems or missile defense systems near our borders is quite a different matter,” he said.

“This poses genuine threats to our territory. Needless to say, in that case we will have to build our defense policy accordingly so as to neutralize these threats.”