Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a grave warning on Wednesday, stating that Russia is technically prepared for nuclear war.
With the upcoming March 15-17 elections expected to secure him another six years in power, Putin cautioned that the deployment of U.S. troops to Ukraine would be seen as a significant escalation of the ongoing conflict.
Putin, 71, revealed Russia’s military-technical readiness for a nuclear confrontation in an interview with Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA. He downplayed the immediate likelihood of such an event, clarifying that, from a military standpoint, Russia is prepared.
However, he stressed that he sees no current necessity for the use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict, saying, “From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready.”
The Russian president emphasized that the U.S. should understand the consequences of deploying American troops to Russian territory or Ukraine, characterizing such actions as intervention.
He acknowledged the expertise in Russian-American relations and strategic restraint among specialists in the U.S., stating, “(In the U.S.) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint. Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this.”
This nuclear warning coincided with Putin’s offer for talks on Ukraine as part of a broader restructuring of European security in the post-Cold War era. Despite these offers, the U.S. has expressed scepticism about Putin’s readiness for serious discussions regarding the situation in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine has strained Russia’s relations with the West, marking the most significant crisis since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Putin has repeatedly cautioned that the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine risks provoking a nuclear conflict.
The Russian president had sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, leading to a full-scale war after eight years of conflict in the eastern part of the country between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian Ukrainians with Russian proxies.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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