Russia is ready for nuclear war: Putin warns the West

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin warned the West that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine, it would be considered a significant escalation of the conflict.

Putin, speaking just days before a March 15-17 election which is certain to give him another six years in power, said the nuclear war scenario was not “rushing” up and he saw no need for the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

“From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” Putin, 71, told Russian media in response to a question whether the country was really ready for a nuclear war.

Putin said the US understood that if it deployed American troops on Russian territory – or to Ukraine – Russia would treat the move as an intervention.

“(In the US) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint,” said Putin, the ultimate decision maker in the world’s biggest nuclear power.

“Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this.”

Putin’s nuclear warning came alongside another offer for talks on Ukraine as part of a new post-Cold War demarcation of European security. The US says Putin is not ready for serious talks over Ukraine.

In a US election year, the West is grappling with how to support Kyiv against Russia, which now controls almost one-fifth of Ukrainian territory and is rearming much faster than the West and Ukraine.

Putin has sent a series of public nuclear warnings to the US aimed at discouraging greater involvement in Ukraine – a move the Kremlin says would mark a slide into world war.

Washington says it has seen no major changes to Russia’s nuclear posture but Putin’s public nuclear warnings – which break with the extreme caution of the Soviet leadership over such remarks – have sown concern in Washington.

Putin reiterated the use of nuclear weapons was spelled out in the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which it would use such a weapon: broadly a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or the use of conventional weapons against Russia “when the very existence of the state is put under threat.”

“Weapons exist in order to use them,” Putin said. “We have our own principles.” Putin said he had never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Putin said Russia was ready for serious talks on Ukraine. “Russia is ready for negotiations on Ukraine, but they should be based on reality – and not on cravings after the use of psychotropic drugs,” Putin said.

It was reported last month that Putin’s suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the U.S. after contacts between intermediaries.

US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned earlier this week that if the West did not provide proper support for Ukraine, Kyiv would lose more territory to Russia which would embolden Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, told the Senate Intelligence Committee it was in US interests to support Ukraine to allow it to get into a stronger position before talks.

Putin said he trusted no one and Russia would need written security guarantees in the event of a settlement. “I don’t trust anyone, but we need guarantees, and guarantees must be spelled out, they must be such that we would be satisfied,” Putin said.