Sending troops to Ukraine risks nuclear war, Putin tells West
Russian president’s warning underscores his willingness to raise stakes to protect gains from 2022 invasion.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to fulfill Moscow’s goals in Ukraine and sternly warned the West against deeper involvement in the fighting, saying that such a move is fraught with the risk of a global nuclear conflict.
Putin’s blunt warning came in a state-of-the-nation address ahead of the March 15-17 presidential election, which he’s all but certain to win, underlining his readiness to raise the stakes in the tug of war with the West to protect the Russian gains in Ukraine.
In an apparent reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement this week that the future deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine should not be “ruled out,” Putin warned of “tragic” consequences for the countries that decide to do so.
Putin noted that while accusing Russia of plans to attack NATO allies in Europe, Western allies were “selecting targets for striking our territory” and “talking about the possibility of sending a NATO contingent to Ukraine.”
“We remember the fate of those who sent their troop contingents to the territory of our country,” he said in an apparent allusion to the failed invasions by Emperor Napoleon and Adolf Hitler. “Now the consequences for the potential invaders will be far more tragic.”
In a two-hour speech, Putin cast Western leaders as reckless and irresponsible and declared that the West should keep in mind that “we also have the weapons that can strike targets on their territory, and what they are now suggesting and scaring the world with, all that raises the real threat of a nuclear conflict that will mean the destruction of our civilization.”
The strong statement followed earlier warnings from Putin, who has issued frequent reminders of Russia’s nuclear might since he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 as he sought to discourage the West from expanding its military support for Kyiv.
Putin emphasized that Russia’s nuclear forces are in “full readiness,” saying that the military has deployed potent new weapons, some of them tested on the battlefield in Ukraine.
He said they include the new Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile that has entered service with Russian nuclear forces, along with the Burevestnik atomic-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon atomic-powered, nuclear-armed drone, which are completing their tests.
At the same time, he rejected Western leaders’ statements about the threat of a Russian attack on North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in Europe as “ravings” and again dismissed Washington’s claim that Moscow was pondering the deployment of space-based nuclear weapons.
Putin charged that the U.S. allegations were part of a ploy to draw Russia into talks on nuclear arms control on American terms as Washington continues its efforts to deliver a “strategic defeat” to Moscow in Ukraine.
“Ahead of the U.S. election, they just want to show their citizens, as well as others, that they continue to rule the world,” he said. “It won’t work.”
In his speech that focused heavily on economic and social issues, Putin argued that Russia was “defending its sovereignty and security and protecting our compatriots” in Ukraine, claiming that Russian forces have the upper hand in the fighting. He reaffirmed his claim that the West was bent on destroying Russia.
Putin, 71, who is running as an independent, relies on tight political control.
Russia’s best-known opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony last month. Putin has been widely blamed for his death. Navalny’s funeral is set for Friday.