President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries on Thursday that there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if they sent their own troops to fight in Ukraine, and he said Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the West.
He prefaced his warning with a specific reference to an idea, floated by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, of European NATO members sending ground troops to Ukraine - a suggestion that was quickly rejected by the United States, Germany, Britain and others.
"(Western nations) must realise 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 civilisation. Don't they get that?!" said Putin.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he spoke about sending Western troops to Ukraine quite deliberately, claiming that he "weighed" his words and "thought them through." talking to reported during
"These are rather serious topics. My every word on this issue is weighted, thought through and calculated," he told reporters during the visit to the upcoming Olympic village on the outskirts of Paris.
Russia's strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteRussian strategic nuclear forces are purely defensive by nature, aimed at deterring possible full-scale attacks on the nation that might threaten its existence. Russia vows to never use nuclear arms for any other reasons, apart from specified in its strategic documents often called its "nuclear doctrine."