10
Loading video...
By David Brennan
Diplomatic Correspondent
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia's "strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness" during his annual state of the nation address.
Speaking in Moscow on Thursday, the Russian president said: "Russia won't let anyone interfere in its internal affairs."
He warned that there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if Western nations send troops to Ukraine, as suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week.
Read More
Video Shows Russian Air Defense Topple Over Minutes After Putin Warns NATO3 min read
Russia Considering Intervention in European Region3 min read
Russia Advances in Ukraine With ‘Staggering Magnitude’ of Losses: Petraeus6 min read
Western nations, Putin added, "must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they get that?" Putin said.
...
Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened nuclear escalation against Kyiv and its Western partners since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Western leaders including President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have consistently warned that a direct Russia-NATO confrontation is unthinkable given the nuclear stakes.
Newsweek has contacted NATO by email to request comment.
Nonetheless, Putin and the Kremlin have long framed the attack on Ukraine as a preemptive war on the "collective West." The Russian president on Thursday returned to these stock talking points.
"The West miscalculated and ran into the firm position and determination of our multinational people," Putin told government officials, members of parliament, and leading civil society figures during his annual speech.
"We remember the fate of those who sent their contingents to the territory of our country," Putin added, a reference to Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. "Now the consequences for the potential interventionists will be much more tragic," Putin said.
NATO leaders—particularly on the alliance's long frontier with Russia—are increasingly warning that direct conflict with Moscow is a realistic danger, suggesting the West has between three and 10 years to prepare for war.
Putin described such warnings as "nonsense." "At the same time they themselves are choosing targets for striking our territory," he said referring to Scholz's revelation this week that British and French personnel are helping Ukraine target Russian positions with Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles.
Macron in particular has been on the receiving end of Moscow's ire this week.
"Nothing should be excluded," the French president said, following a gathering of Ukraine's backers in Paris on Monday. "There is no consensus at this stage," he added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said his suggestion of deploying troops on Ukrainian soil "could cause irreparable damage to security and stability on the continent, leading to irreversible consequences."
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines