Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West today that Russia is technically ready for a nuclear war and that if the United States of America (USA) sends troops to Ukraine, it will be considered a significant escalation of the conflict.
Putin, speaking just days before Russia's March 15-17 presidential election that is sure to give him six more years in power, said the nuclear war scenario was not "urgent" and he saw no need to use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
"From a military-technical point of view, of course, we are ready," Putin (71) told Russia-1 television and the RIA news agency, answering the question of whether the country is really ready for a nuclear war, Reuters reports.
Putin said the US understood that if Russia deployed US troops on Russian territory - or in Ukraine - it would treat the move as an intervention.
"(In the US) there are enough experts in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic containment," said Putin, the final decision-maker in the world's largest nuclear power.
"Therefore, I don't think there is a rush towards it (a nuclear showdown), but we are ready for this," he added.
Putin's nuclear warning came alongside another offer for talks on Ukraine within the new post-Cold War European security framework.
The US says Putin is not ready for serious talks on Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has caused the deepest crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Putin has warned several times that the West risks provoking a nuclear war if it sends troops to fight in Ukraine.
Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, sparking a full-scale war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.
Nuclear war?
In a US election year, the West is grappling with how to support Kiev against Russia, which now controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory and is arming itself much faster than the West and Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Kiev says it is defending itself against an imperial-style war of conquest designed to erase Ukraine's national identity.
Russia says the areas it controls in Ukraine are now Russia.
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 in Russia's nuclear posture, but Putin's public nuclear warnings -- which contrasted with the Soviet leadership's extreme caution about such remarks -- have sowed concern in Washington.
Putin reiterated that the use of nuclear weapons is outlined in the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine, which outlines the conditions under which it would use such weapons: mainly in response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, or using conventional weapons against Russia "when the very existence countries under threat".
"Weapons exist to be used. We have our principles," Putin said.
CNN reported on Saturday that US President Joseph Biden's administration was particularly concerned in 2022 that Russia could use tactical or nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. Putin said he never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Conversations?
Putin said that Russia is ready for serious talks on Ukraine.
"Russia is ready for negotiations on Ukraine, but they should be based on reality – not on cravings after the use of psychotropic drugs," Putin said.
Reuters reported last month that the US rejected Putin's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war after contacts between mediators.
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, warned earlier this week that if the West did not provide adequate support to Ukraine, Kiev would lose more territory to Russia, which would embolden Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Burns, the former US ambassador to Russia, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that it was in the US's interest to support Ukraine to allow it to take a stronger position ahead of negotiations.
Putin said he doesn't trust anyone and that Russia will need written security guarantees in the event of a settlement.
"I don't trust anyone, but we need guarantees, and the guarantees must be specified, they must be such that we are satisfied," Putin said.
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