Russia insists nuclear war is not just a threat. Photo/Reuters
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons if Western countries sent troops within close range Russia .
His comments on Thursday, in a state of the nation address, were typical of Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally who served as Russia’s president from 2008-2012 and prime minister until becoming a top security official in 2020.
Throughout the conflict in Ukraine, Medvedev has warned of nuclear action and written numerous social media posts showering Western leaders and countries with insults and threats.
“Medvedev used to write posts about the riders of the apocalypse with style [pembuat film AS Quentin] Tarantino and Putin are bringing their threats back to the edge of sanity,” Kyiv-based military expert Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.
Putin has now upped the ante, responding to French President Emmanuel Macron’s assumption on Monday that the deployment of European troops to Ukraine could not be “ruled out”.
Putin made his threat in his annual national address – a ceremony carefully choreographed and broadcast live only to be cut into quotes that would likely be repeated and commented on by the Russian media for days.
The West has “announced the possibility of sending a Western military contingent to Ukraine,” Putin said on Thursday. “The consequences for interventionists would be much more tragic.
“They must eventually realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. “Everything the West does creates a real threat of conflict using nuclear weapons, and thus destroying civilization,” he said.
Moscow has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal including new generation hypersonic missiles and several times more tactical nuclear weapons than Western countries.
2024-03-02 13:20:20
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