Russia remains in a state of combat readiness and is fully ready for a nuclear war, but not “everything is rushing to it” at present, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published on Wednesday.
In an interview with state media, Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is certain to win the 15 to 17 March presidential election, said Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty was threatened.
“From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” Putin told Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA in response to a question whether the country was really ready for a nuclear war.
He said the United States understands that if it deploys American troops on Russian territory – or to Ukraine – Russia would treat the move as an intervention.
“(In the United States) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint,” Putin said.
“Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this.”
He reiterated that the use of nuclear weapons was spelled out in the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine, its policy setting out the circumstances in which Russia might use its weapons.
“Weapons exist in order to use them,” Putin said. “We have our own principles.”
If the United States conducted nuclear tests, Russia might do the same, he added in the wide-ranging interview.
“It’s not necessary … we still need to think about it, but I don’t rule out that we can do the same.”
However, Putin said Russia had never faced a need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, where the conflict has raged since February 2022.
“Why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need.”
Deploying more troops
Putin said that Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO is “a meaningless step” and that Russia will deploy troops and systems of destruction to the Finnish border after Finland joins the alliance.
“This is an absolutely meaningless step (for Finland and Sweden) from the point of view of ensuring their own national interests,” Putin said.
“We didn’t have troops there (at the Finnish border), now they will be there. There were no systems of destruction there, now they will appear.”
Putin said that if US troops appear in Ukraine, Russia will treat them as interventionists.
Below is the summary of the wide-ranging interview with President Vladimir Putin as released by Russia’s RIA State News Agency and Rossiya-1 State Television .
Topics discussed included nuclear war, the US election and NATO’s expansion.
Vladimir Putin gives an interview to Russia’s state RIA news agency and Rossiya-1 televisionSputnik/Gavriil Grigorov via Reuters
Russia ready for nuclear war
Mr Putin once again addressed the prospect of a nuclear war with the West.
“From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” he said.
“Weapons exist in order to use them,” he said.
“We have our own principles.”
However, he later expressed that using such weapons was not the Kremlin’s desire.
“Why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need.”
Discussing Finland’s accession to NATO, Mr Putin appeared to dismiss its importance, but vowed to send troops to the border as the alliance continues to expand.
“This is an absolutely meaningless step from the point of view of ensuring their own national interests,” he said.
“We didn’t have troops there [at the Finnish border], now they will be there. There were no systems of destruction there, now they will appear.”
Map showing the Russian-Finnish border with crossings highlighted
Warning for the US
The Russian leader was asked how he would respond to the US potentially sending troops to Ukraine or Russia.
He said Washington understood that in that hypothetical scenario – Russia would treat the move as an intervention.
“[In the US] there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint [to stop that from happening]” he said.
“Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it [nuclear confrontation], but we are ready for this.”
If the US conducted nuclear tests, Russia might do the same, he added.
“It’s not necessary [for the US to conduct tests]… but I don’t rule out that we can do the same.”