Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons if its statehood, sovereignty or independence are threatened.
The Russian president said he hopes the United States will not take actions that could trigger a nuclear conflict.
U.S. President Joe Biden is a “senior statesman” who is fully aware of the dangers that could arise from an escalation, he said on Wednesday in an interview with state television Rossiya-1 just days before Russia’s three-day presidential election. .
The 71-year-old said he did not think the world would plunge into a nuclear war, but that the Kremlin’s nuclear forces were fully prepared and “from a military-technical point of view, we are ready.”
He claimed that Moscow was prepared to use nuclear weapons if “the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence” were threatened.
Since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has repeatedly expressed his willingness to use nuclear weapons. Last month, he warned the West in his State of the Union address that deepening involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclear war.
Asked in a recent interview whether he had considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there was no need.
Russia and the United States are the largest nuclear powers, possessing more than 90% of the world’s atomic weapons. Russia has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, at 5,580, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Putin also expressed confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and appeared to leave the door open to negotiations, stressing that any deal would require firm guarantees from the West.
Russia’s president has claimed that a recent surge in Ukrainian drone strikes across Russia is part of an effort to undermine the country’s three-day presidential election, which begins on Friday and which he is almost certain to win.
“I have no doubt that the main goal is – if not to disrupt the Russian presidential election – then at least to interfere in some way with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens,” he told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian authorities reported another major attack by a Ukrainian drone on Wednesday. One of the drones struck an oil refinery in the Ryazan region, injuring at least two people and causing a fire.
Another drone was shot down as it approached an oil refinery near St. Petersburg, and 30 more drones were shot down in the southwest region of Voronezh.
“We will not interfere in any way with any election,” Putin said.
In an extensive interview with Russia 1 and RIA Novosti, Putin also addressed claims that Russia intends to interfere in the U.S. election. “We will not interfere in any way with any election,” He said.
“And, as I’ve said many times, we will work with any leader who has the trust of the American people, the American voters.”
He also revealed part of a conversation he had with Donald Trump: “In the last year of his presidency, Mr. Trump, today’s presidential candidate, accused me of being sympathetic to Joe Biden…he told me in one conversation , “You want…” Sorry, I’m going to say it the way he said it, it’s a sentence, “…Sleepy Joe wins. “
“Then, to my surprise, they started persecuting him [Trump] Because we allegedly supported his candidacy. Well, this is complete nonsense. “
Agency’s Supplementary Report
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