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Putin warns the west that Russia is ready for nuclear war

By isabelle // 2024-03-14

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in a recent interview that his country is prepared for nuclear war, adding that it could abandon its moratorium on nuclear testing should the U.S. resume testing of its own. This unsettling disclosure was made during an interview on Russia 1 TV with journalist Dmitry Kiselyov, who asked the leader a question about tactical nuclear arms ahead of the country’s elections on Friday. Putin replied: “Weapons exist to be used. We have our own principles and they imply that we are ready to use any weapons, including the ones you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, in case of a threat to our sovereignty and independence. Everything is written in our strategy; we haven’t changed it.” In 2020, he signed a nuclear deterrence policy decree that listed scenarios in which nuclear weapons could be used. One of the cases that was identified was aggression against Russia with conventional weapons when the country's existence is under threat. Late last year, they downgraded their participation in the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty after ratifying it in 2000. This prohibits “all nuclear explosions, whether for military or peaceful purpose.” It was signed by 187 countries, although only 178 countries went on to ratify it. Russia said that it would be downgrading its participation because the U.S. never ratified the ban; others who failed to ratify it included nuclear powers such as Pakistan, India and China.

Putin said Russia is ready for a nuclear war with the West

Putin also said that his country is ready for a nuclear war with the West. He said: "From a military-technical point of view, of course, we are ready. We have them with us all the time, constantly in a state of combat readiness." He added that the U.S. is also working on nuclear forces, noting: “They are now setting tasks to increase this modernity, innovation, they have a corresponding plan. We know about it too. They are developing all their components. So are we.” He also cautioned that they would consider the presence of American troops in any Russian or Ukrainian territory an escalation and respond accordingly, although he said that he did not think such a situation was likely. “Apart from (U.S. President Joe) Biden, there are enough other experts in the sphere of Russian-American relations and strategic restraint. So I don’t think that everything is going to go head-on here, but we are ready for it.” The U.S., Germany and several other European countries have said that they will not send troops to Ukraine, but Putin believes that the situation could change. However, the Biden administration continues to push for the stalled security aid bill to be passed to provide Ukrainian troops with additional weapons.

U.S. has been preparing for a potential Russian nuclear weapon strike against Ukraine

According to U.S. officials, the U.S. started “preparing rigorously” for a potential Russian nuclear weapon strike against Ukraine, with tactical and battlefield nuclear weapons said to be particular concerns. Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian President who now serves as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, has said they could use strategic nuclear weapons to defend territories that have been incorporated from Ukraine into Russia. The Financial Times reported that it saw leaked classified files that show the Russian military trained to use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield at a surprisingly low threshold during the conflict with Ukraine’s early days, including the use of such weapons against major world powers. Sources for this article include: RT.com CNN.com FT.com Politico.eu

Russia Ukraine nuclear weapons Putin nuclear war chaos WWIII military tech weapons tech nuclear testing