“There is a real threat of conflict with nuclear weapons”

President of Russia Vladimir Putin This Thursday sounded a strong threat, pointing out that the consequences of the deployment of allied forces in Ukraine would be “tragic” and insisting that Western powers must understand that Moscow. “It also has weapons capable of striking targets in its territories.”

“They have started talking about the possibility of sending NATO military teams to Ukraine, but we remember the fate of those who once sent troops to the border of our country, but now the consequences of possible interventions. They will be very sad“The President warned.

It happened within the framework of his State of the Nation address before the country's political elite at the Gostiny Dvor, the congress palace in Moscow, two weeks before the presidential election.

Putin has urged Western powers to understand Russia in that way “It also has weapons capable of striking targets in its territories.”

And he went deeper: “Everything they've discovered this time, they're terrorizing the world, all this The real threat of a conflict in which nuclear weapons are usedIt means the destruction of civilization.”

The Kremlin leader appears in better shape than a year ago, when his troops staged a humiliating retreat in southern and northeastern Ukraine after a failed bid to capture Kiev.

But since then, Ukraine's summer counteroffensive has failed and its forces are now on the defensive, Ammunition is scarce, and outnumbered by the numerous and well-armed Russian soldiers. In mid-February, Moscow forces continued their offensive in the sector, capturing the fortress of Avdiivka on the Eastern Front.

“The military capabilities of the (Russian) armed forces have multiplied. They are making steady progress in many areas of the front,” Putin said, adding that “the absolute majority of the Russian people” support the military campaign in Ukraine.

The leader also accused the West of forgetting what war is and fomenting “conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and other parts of the world”.

“They continue to lie, now, without any shameThey say Russia wants to attack Europe. But we know very well that this is just nonsense,” he said.

The Russian president assured that the West was trying to make the Russian Federation make the same mistake of engaging in an arms race with the Soviet Union, with the USSR devoting 13% of its GDP, while Moscow allocated 6%. Security. 2024.

In this regard, he stressed that this “tactic” will not succeed, as Moscow wants to build a military-technical complex to strengthen the country's industrial, technological and scientific potential.

Putin also described US allegations that Russia is preparing to deploy nuclear weapons in space as “baseless”. However, he insisted that Russian strategic nuclear powers “In full combat readiness.”

He also distrusted Washington's conversational approach. “There is all the evidence we have to consider that the words of current US officials who are said to be interested in negotiating with us on issues of strategic stability are beyond rhetoric ahead of the US presidential election. And the rest of the world, they still hold sway,” he said.

The Russian president noted that Russia is “open to comprehensive dialogue with all interested countries and international organizations” to “create a new security system in Eurasia in the future, indivisible and with equal conditions for all.”

“Without a sovereign and strong Russia, A solid world order is not possible,” he said.