Putin backpedals on threat of nuclear war
VLADIMIR PUTIN has said the conflict in Ukraine could last a long time, but rowed back on previous threats to use nuclear weapons to win the war.
In his most extensive televised remarks about the invasion for some weeks, he said Russia’s nuclear deterrent was intended only for retaliation against a first strike and appeared to rule out using them on the battlefield.
“We haven’t gone mad, we realise what nuclear weapons are,” Mr Putin said. “We have these means in more advanced and modern form than any other nuclear country ... but we aren’t about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor.
“As for the duration of the special military operation, well, of course, this can be a long process.”
He also praised Russia’s “gains”, saying the Azov Sea had become “internal” Russian waters and likening it to the conquests of Peter the Great.
In September, the Russian president claimed the United States set a “precedent” for using nuclear weapons by bombing Japan in 1945 and put his atomic forces on high alert. The implicit threat drew condemnation from the West and Russia’s close ally China.
His comments about a long war come as Russia expands its defences on its side of the border following a series of suspected Ukrainian strikes on it airfields. Earlier this week, Vyachelsav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region – 30 miles north of the Ukraine border – announced the formation of “territorial defence battalions” to defend the area.
He said the battalions would be a Home Guard-style force raised from volunteers unable to serve in the regular military because of their health or age and implied they would not fight in Ukraine.
Rumours have circulated on Russian social media about a fresh wave of mobilisation in January and February.
Mr Putin said half of the 300,000 men called up under the “partial mobilisation” were serving in the war zone and there was no need for more recruits at present.
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the neighbouring Kursk region, was also photographed inspecting defensive earthworks along the border.
Trenches were dug on the Belgorod side of the frontier shortly after the war began in February. Mr Gladkov announced construction of a more substantial “Belgorod line” of defence in October and has posted images of the progress over the past month.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said these new trenches “are probably more elaborate systems, designed to rebuff mechanised assault”.
“There is a realistic possibility that the Russian authorities are promoting defensive preparations within internationally recognised Russian territory to burnish patriotic feeling,” it said.
“However, it probably illustrates some Russia decision-makers’ genuine (but false) belief that there is a credible threat of invasion by Ukrainian forces.”
Ukraine has so far not attempted to launch serious offensive operations across the border and it is believed the White House has asked Kyiv not to use Us-provided weapons for its assaults on Russian territory through fear of escalating the war into a direct Moscow-nato conflict.