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.
That’s a pretty gigantic if there.
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)
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.
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.
He likes his palaces, wants to enjoy them, and wants the children he had with his mistresses to inherit them, surely.