Asked whether Russia is ready for nuclear war, Vladimir Putin did not hedge. “From a military-technical standpoint, we are, of course, prepared,” the Russian president said, in remarks Reuters carried.
He was speaking on Wednesday to Russian news agencies, days before an election widely expected to hand him another six-year term. The interview was aimed squarely at Washington. Putin warned that the United States should not expect to keep backing Ukraine heavily without paying a price.
He also said that any American military presence on Ukrainian soil would be treated by Moscow as intervention. He doubted it would come to that. Pressed on the risk of a direct clash, he pointed past the White House. “Apart from [President Joe] Biden, there are plenty of other experts in Russian-American relations and strategic restraint,” he said, according to CNN. “So, I don’t foresee a direct collision, but we are prepared for it.”
Doctrine restated
Putin went back over the conditions Russian military doctrine sets for using nuclear weapons: a nuclear strike against Russia, or a threat to the existence of the state. Russian officials have kept returning to the country’s arsenal since the invasion of Ukraine began, and he did so again here.
“Weapons exist to be used,” he told the agencies, per Reuters. Then he added: “We have our principles.”
On the American side, he said the U.S. is not ready to start a nuclear war at present, though he noted that Washington is working to upgrade its forces. “They are setting goals to enhance modernization and innovation. They have a corresponding plan. We are aware of it. They are developing all their components. So are we.”
Talks and the election
Putin said Russia would sit down to negotiate over Ukraine, with conditions. “Russia is open to negotiations on Ukraine, but they must be grounded in reality,” he said, and he dismissed the alternative as the product of “psychotropic drugs.” Any deal, he added, would need a way to enforce compliance.
The remarks follow similar language from Putin a month earlier, when Western leaders were discussing sending troops to Ukraine, CNN noted.
He also brought up recent Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia. In his telling, Kyiv is trying to disrupt the vote and build leverage for any future talks.
Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made a separate charge. She accused the United States of meddling in the election, citing what she described as a planned cyberattack on Russian voting systems and a push to depress turnout, The Guardian reported.
