`Decoding` President Putin's warning about nuclear war 0
(Dan Tri) – Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a tough message to the West when mentioning the risk of nuclear war in his federal message.
Russian President Vladimir Putin read the federal message on February 29 (Photo: Reuters).
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 29 warned that the West faced the prospect of nuclear conflict if they intervened directly in the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin accused NATO member states, which are supporting Ukraine to attack Russian territory or may consider sending troops to Ukraine, to `finally understand` that `all of this is really dangerous.`
`We also have weapons that can attack targets on their territory. Don’t they understand this?`, Mr. Putin asked.
The Russian leader alluded to French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments this week, which mentioned the possibility of sending troops from NATO countries to Ukraine, a scenario the Kremlin warned would lead to a direct conflict.
The United States and Western governments have largely tried to avoid Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
President Putin’s warnings were given right from the opening minutes when he read the federal address, an important annual event for the Kremlin.
This year, the speech is even more important because the Russian presidential election is scheduled to take place from March 15 to 17, in which Mr. Putin will run for another six-year term.
The speech also took place at a geopolitically sensitive time: More than two years into the war, Russia has taken the initiative on the battlefield, military aid to Ukraine is stalled in the US Congress and other governments.
Mr. Putin has repeatedly issued nuclear warnings aimed at the West since Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine two years ago, using the threat of Russia’s huge nuclear arsenal to prevent Europe from entering the West.
The Kremlin boss is said to have reduced nuclear warnings over the past year.
`Russia is ready to dialogue with the US on strategic stability issues,` Mr Putin said, referring to the arms control negotiations that were conducted with the US before the military campaign in Ukraine.
Fyodor Lukyanov, a foreign policy expert close to the Kremlin in Moscow, said Putin’s warnings were probably prompted by Macron’s statement earlier this week that `the possibility should not be ruled out`
According to Mr. Lukyanov, more broadly, Mr. Putin is responding to Western commitments to provide more powerful weapons to Ukraine as Russia’s battlefield advantage is increasing.
`Mr. Macron is not the only one who started saying that Russia’s victory is unacceptable. In the West, they are not talking about a peace agreement, they are talking about not letting Russia win.`
Mr. Lukyanov predicted that President Putin’s goal is to avoid more direct Western involvement in the war in Ukraine and `achieve negotiations on terms acceptable to Russia.`
Mr. Putin had previously sought a far-reaching security agreement with NATO by the end of 2021, weeks before Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine.
For its part, the White House has rejected Putin’s efforts to put the United States at the center of any negotiations related to the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin’s threats against the West took up only a few minutes in a speech lasting more than two hours.
But Putin said all those domestic priorities depend on the success of the conflict in Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a `special military operation.`
Callum Fraser, Russian and Eurasian security researcher at the British Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI), Mr. Putin calling the conflict in Ukraine a `war` shows a change.
`This is related to Putin’s recent signals of willingness to negotiate, but only through his stance on how the international system should operate, with only discussions between
Expert Fraser said that President Putin’s mention of the escalation related to nuclear weapons and the statement that `we also have weapons to attack targets on their territory` is `a subtle way of
