- President Vladimir Putin warned of a possible nuclear war if Ukraine joins NATO
- Russian strongman accused the West of ‘complete disregard for our concerns’
- Accusation came hours after talks with French President Macron over the crisis
- Moscow has massed over 100,000 soldiers on Russia, Belarus’s Ukrainian border
By Will Stewart For The Mailonline
Vladimir Putin yesterday warned a nuclear war could break out if Ukraine joins NATO and accused the West of ‘complete disregard for our concerns’ hours after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow.
The Russian strongman said he wanted to ‘stress one more time’ that ‘if Ukraine joins NATO… the European countries will be automatically pulled into a war conflict with Russia‘.
He said states would not ‘even have time to blink’ before invoking Article 5 of NATO which demands collective defense of members.
Putin also said he recognised Moscow’s military might was ‘incomparable’ with NATO but warned Russia ‘is one of the leading nuclear states’ and that there would be ‘no winners’ in a hot war.
His comments came after lengthy negotiations with Macron over the crisis in Ukraine, which Putin described as ‘constructive’ after using the familiar ‘ty’ form of ‘you’ to address the French President, seen as a sign of a good rapport between the leaders.
Putin has spent months massing some 135,000 troops backed by tanks and artillery on Ukraine’s borders, sparking repeated warnings from Washington that he is about to invade.
Putin claimed his Moscow talks with President Emmanuel Macron were constructive but said: ‘I want to stress it one more time,
‘I’ve been saying it, but I’d very much want you to finally hear me, and to deliver it to your audience in print, TV and online.
‘Do you understand it or not, that if Ukraine joins NATO and attempts to bring Crimea back by military means, the European countries will be automatically pulled into a war conflict with Russia?’
Putin warned: ‘Of course the [military] potential of NATO and Russia are incomparable. We understand it.
‘But we also understand that Russia is one of the leading nuclear states, and by some modern components it even outperforms many.
‘There will be no winners. And you will be pulled into this conflict against your will.
‘You won’t even have time to blink your eye when you execute Article 5 (collective defence of NATO members)….
‘Mr President Macron, of course, doesn’t want this. And I don’t want it. And I don’t want it….which is why he is here, torturing me for six straight hours.’
Putin said that for 30 years Russia had tried to persuade the West against a NATO eastward move but there was ‘just a complete disregard for our concerns, demands, and proposals’.
The threats came after new footage emerged appearing to show Russia’s deployment of ‘unstoppable’ Kinzhal nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles in the country’s westernmost territory Kaliningrad, fewer than 800 miles from Britain.
Other video purports to show one of two MiG-31K deployed in western exclave Kaliningrad wedged between NATO countries Poland and Lithuania with a Baltic Sea coast, within striking distance of Ukraine and less than 800 miles from the UK.
The warplane is reported to be deployed with the new ultra high speed Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles.
The 24-foot-long, one-ton Kinzhal – or Dagger – can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, and Russia boasts it has no match among Western defences.
The hypersonic Kinzhal has a range of 1,250 miles and could pummel Ukrainian troops and defences without flying close to the country.
It appears that the MiG-31Ks capable of carrying the thousand-pound warheads were redeployed from Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, to Chernyakhovsk air base in Kaliningrad region in recent days.
Russia is believed to have around 20 Kinzhal-compatible MiG-31Ks in total.
In the Black Sea, Russia’s hi-tech Ivan Khurs intelligence ship was seen just 20 nautical miles from Ukrainian naval port Odessa amid fears that an invasion could include a maritime assault.
Russia has rejected the deployment of UN peacekeepers on the borders of rebel-held Donbas.
Senior diplomat Pyotr Ilyichev, head of the Russian foreign ministry’s international organisations department, said: ‘No, there is no need. Peacekeepers will not resolve anything in the intra-Ukrainian conflict.
‘The Ukrainians need to talk to the LPR and DPR [the people’s republics of Luhansk and Donetsk].’
Russia has said that upcoming trips to Moscow by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace are unlikely to improve relations.
Russian ambassador to London Andrei Klein said: ‘So far I am not at all under the impression that this could be a step towards a better relationship, and I am basing this on the statements being made by both Liz Truss and Ben Wallace.’
“Putin also said he recognised Moscow’s military might was ‘incomparable’ with NATO but warned Russia ‘is one of the leading nuclear states’ and that there would be ‘no winners’ in a hot war. ”
Classic Putler, when he gets cornered like a rat, he threatens everyone with nukes. I would hope there are still some sane people in the lunatic asylum called Muscovy, that will put an end to the demented dwarf and his threats to end all life on earth.
He probably doesn’t give a shit about Nato. Why should he? It’s full of his shills. What he wants is Ukraine run by a puppet dictator on the Lukashenka business model.
Ukraine must finesse itself out of putler’s latest threats and arm itself to the teeth until it is as impregnable as possible.
Since it won’t join Nato, it now needs its own independent nuclear deterrent.
They should start developing it now.
Putin knows Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO, it’s just an excuse for him to invade Ukraine. In fact he’s looking for any excuse to invade, but he’s running out of options, besides bombing his own citizens, which has happened before.
Putin doesn’t seem to mind the NATO build up in the Baltics but in Ukraine it is apparently a tragedy. Ukraine also has missiles and though they are not nuclear they can do damage to Moscow too. I think this whole thing is about having a weak POTUS and an opportunity to get a deal and control Kyiv, the homeland that the Moskali have always wanted.
Of course putler would use “ty” with Macron. He is putler’s pet, like all French and German rulers.
Curiously enough, I can propose an easy solution for this entire situation to have a peaceful outcome. WITHDRAW the Russian troops. They have no real reason to be there, but their presence certainly gives Ukraine and all of Europe to rally their own troops. He’s just wasting time and making things worse if he’s bluffing. A nuclear war would of course ruin Ukraine and perhaps Europe at large. But it would also definitely ruin Russia, so that’s worse than putin admitting his mistakes and backing off.
Putin got the ass wide open as always.