Putin says he is ready for nuclear war against West
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the West that Russia is technically prepared for a nuclear war, and that should the US send troops to Ukraine, it would be regarded as a considerable escalation of the war.
Source: European Pravda; Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RBC
Details: "We are definitely ready from a military and technical point of view. Our [nuclear missiles] are permanently on high alert," Putin said in an interview with the state-run Russian propaganda media in response to a question about whether the country was, in fact, ready for a nuclear war.
Putin noted that should the United States decide to send its troops to Ukraine, Russia would regard such a move in the same way as the deployment of US troops to Russian territory, i.e. as an intervention.
"I have already said [US President Joe] Biden is a representative of the traditional political school... In addition to Biden and others, there are plenty of experts in the field of Russo-American relations and strategic restraint. So I don't think everything will be so head-on, but we are ready for it," Putin concluded.
At the same time, the Russian president claimed that there had never been a need to resort to tactical nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine, and when asked if this meant that he had never thought of doing so, Putin replied: "No, why would I?"
"We have our own principles. They stipulate that we are ready to use any weapon, including [tactical nuclear weapons], when it comes to the existence of the Russian state and harm to our sovereignty and independence. Everything is spelt out in our strategy, we have not changed it," Putin claimed.
If the United States conducts a nuclear test, Russia could do the same, he also said.
Background: On 12 March, US intelligence reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin almost certainly does not want a direct confrontation with NATO and will limit himself to asymmetric activity.
On 10 March, the New York Times noted that the United States was preparing a "non-nuclear" response in late 2022 if Russia used nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
On 9 March, CNN reported that at the end of 2022, the United States had started "preparing rigorously" for the possibility that Russia could launch a nuclear strike against Ukraine.
Earlier: On 29 February, Putin addressed Russia’s Federal Assembly, speaking about, among other things, the "full readiness" of nuclear forces and warning of the consequences if NATO were to deploy troops to Ukraine.
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