President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the U.S. sent troops to Ukraine it would be considered a significant escalation of the war.

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 Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA in response to a question whether the country was really ready for a nuclear war.

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

  • @AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
    30•4 months ago

    “If you help Ukraine, we might end all life on earth”. Putin knows that nuclear war is unwinnable, and would destroy his empire as well, so if he’s a rational actor, the only use of nuclear weapons is as a prop for bluffing.

    • oKtosiTe
      22•4 months ago

      if he’s a rational actor

      That’s a pretty gigantic if there.

      • @KISSmyOS@feddit.de
        15•4 months ago

        Putin is a rational actor. And his actions have been wildly successful so far in achieving his goals.
        (Improving the lives of the Russian people is not among those goals)

        • Beemo Dinosaurierfuß
          9•4 months ago

          Well to a degree.

          He certainly didn’t want Sweden and Norway to join NATO and I doubt he wanted a multi year long war in Ukraine.

          But I do agree that he certainly won’t throw nukes just cause hurr durr he is such a crazy dictator.

          • @ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
            3•4 months ago

            Yep, he’s a tactician but not a strategist. He makes individual moves and bets that can be very successful. Like supporting/blackmailing (?) Trump, and interfering with the 2016 election. That was an incredible payoff for him. But he’s not in control strategically.

            He is very rational, though, and would not cross a line that would force a US response that would remove him from power. Which is exactly what would happen if seriously attempted to initiate nuclear war, and if pretty much anyone but Trump was president.

    • @mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
      1•4 months ago

      He doesn’t really care, he’s very ill and trying to hide it and wanting to cement a ‘legacy’ before he is rendered unable to rule.

      If that legacy is starting ww3, he feels that is a stretch goal.