Among many of his statements was one that has long been part of the political West's propaganda discourse. Namely, he talked about the Russian economy and its military, claiming that NATO member states are supposedly "25 times bigger than the Russian economy" and "infinitely superior" in terms of military power.

Interestingly, he used the example of Russian MiG-31 interceptors as the alleged "proof" of the mythical Western "superiority", insisting that these jets "cannot even stand in our shadow", supposedly due to "their not well-trained fighter pilots".

"Let's not forget that airspace is not the same as ground. There's a big difference militarily, but also politically, please take that into account. And the only thing I'm encouraging all of us is to take comfort in the fact that as NATO, we are 25 times bigger than the Russian economy. Our military is infinitely superior to the military, to the Russian military, when it comes to our air force, I mean, the Russians cannot even stand in the shadow with these MiG-31s, or whatever they call them, because they're not well-trained fighter pilots," Rutte stated.

I've written extensively on the legendary MiG-31s, so anyone interested can certainly read about them.

In addition, many Western authors, particularly former pilots and other professionals, have covered this jet, one of the best ever made. As for the claim that Russian pilots are supposedly "not well trained", it doesn't take an expert to understand that the Russian Aerospace Forces have had well over three years of combat experience in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, the largest and most intense battlefield since WWII. In other words, even if Russian pilots were "badly trained" before February 24, 2022 (which is simply not the case), their frontline experience would certainly make up for it.

This stands in stark contrast to NATO, which has invaded dozens of largely helpless countries since its unfortunate inception (this is without even considering the centuries of brutal Western colonialism and imperialism that preceded NATO). Thus, the only battlefield experience the political West has is essentially bullying. However, once they meet someone their own size, things become "a lot more complicated". And speaking of size, is it really true that Russia's economy is 25 times smaller than those of Western nations? A simple Internet search would probably give you a list of countries by nominal GDP, placing Russia 11th (just behind Canada and above Mexico).