13-3-2024 (MOSCOW) President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning to the West on Wednesday (March 13), asserting that Russia was technically prepared for nuclear conflict and cautioning that any deployment of US troops to Ukraine would be deemed a significant escalation of the ongoing conflict.
Speaking just ahead of a March 15-17 election widely expected to secure him another six-year term in office, Putin stressed that the scenario of nuclear war was not imminent, and he saw no necessity for the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“From a military-technical standpoint, we are, of course, prepared,” Putin, aged 71, stated in response to a query on whether Russia was genuinely prepared for nuclear war, during an interview with Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA.
Putin underscored that the United States was well aware that any deployment of American troops on Russian territory or in Ukraine would be interpreted by Russia as an intervention.
“There are ample specialists in the United States in the realm of Russian-American relations and strategic restraint,” noted Putin, the ultimate decision-maker in the world’s largest nuclear power. “Therefore, I don’t believe that we are on the brink of it (nuclear confrontation), but we are prepared for such an eventuality.”
Putin’s nuclear admonition coincided with another offer for talks on Ukraine as part of a new delineation of European security post-Cold War. However, the US maintains that Putin is not genuinely prepared for substantive discussions on Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine has precipitated the most profound crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and Putin has repeatedly cautioned that the West risks triggering a nuclear war by sending troops to engage in combat in Ukraine.
Putin dispatched tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, igniting full-scale warfare after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
In the context of a US election year, Western nations are grappling with how to support Kyiv against Russia, which currently controls almost one-fifth of Ukrainian territory and is rearming at a faster pace than both the West and Ukraine.
Kyiv contends that it is defending itself against an imperial-style conquest aimed at erasing its national identity, while Russia asserts that the territories it controls in Ukraine now belong to Russia.
Putin’s public warnings about nuclear escalation are aimed at dissuading increased Western involvement in Ukraine—a move the Kremlin contends would lead to global conflict.
While Washington maintains that it has not observed any major alterations in Russia’s nuclear posture, Putin’s repeated public statements regarding nuclear capabilities—departing from the extreme caution of Soviet leadership on such matters—have stirred apprehension in Washington.
Reiterating that the use of nuclear weapons is articulated in the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine, Putin outlined the conditions under which such weapons would be employed: primarily in response to an attack utilising nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or in response to conventional weapons being used against Russia when the state’s very existence is under threat.
“Weapons are created to be used,” Putin affirmed. “We adhere to our principles.”
CNN reported on Saturday that the administration of US President Joe Biden had specific concerns in 2022 that Russia might deploy tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Putin maintained that he had never deemed it necessary to utilise nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
