Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would have to defend itself if threatened, adding that NATO is "coming to its borders".

"If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates," Putin said at a meeting outside Moscow with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto. "It's NATO that is coming to our borders and not us moving somewhere," he added.