Vladimir Putin just issued another nuclear threat to the West while comparing a potential Ukraine peace deal to psychotropic drug “cravings”.
The Russian president told Russian state media, Rossiya-1 TV and news agency RIA, that “from a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready” for nuclear war.
According to a translation from Reuters news agency, the Russian president said if the US sent troops to Ukraine it would be a major escalation – but claimed he otherwise saw no need to use nuclear weapons in the current conflict.
As Russia is the world’s largest nuclear power, concerns that Putin could escalate the war have occupied the West ever since he invaded Ukraine in 2022.
But, the president also claimed the US knew that any deployment of its troops would be seen as an intervention.
He said that “there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint,” and concluded: “Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it [nuclear conflict], but we are ready for this.”
This is far from the first time Putin has suggested a deployment of Western troops to Ukraine would escalate into a conflict using weapons of mass destruction.
Only last month, the president said the West risked the “destruction of civilisation” in a nuclear war if Nato countries send troops to fight in Ukraine.
He also issued a similar warning back in September 2022, telling Ukraine’s allies he was “not bluffing”.
In fact, Russia’s relationship with the West is now at its lowest point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
But, last summer, Nato suggested there has been no substantial change to Russia’s nuclear posture – but Putin’s nuclear warnings are becoming more increasingly public.
In this new interview, the president also pointed to Moscow’s nuclear doctrine which suggests it would use the weapon if the “very existence of the state is put under threat”.
He said: “Weapons exist in order to use them. We have our own principles.”
Moscow has repeatedly claimed it would welcome peace talks with Kyiv, but only if it can hold onto the fifth of Ukrainian land it has already illegally annexed.
Putin suggested in this new interview that “Russia is ready for negotiations on Ukraine”.
It comes after Ukraine’s stalled counteroffensive over the summer and ongoing struggles in the US to get military aid to Kyiv.
He then added: “They should be based on reality – and not cravings after the use of psychotropic drugs.”
When asked about a potential settlement, Putin noted: “I don’t trust anyone, but we need guarantees, and guarantees must be spelling out, they must be such that we would be satisfied.”
Meanwhile, US has said that the Russian president is not ready for serious peace talks because he is still launching attacks on Ukraine.
Putin was speaking shortly before Russia’s presidential election, where he is a shoo-in for another six years in power.