Putin Says Direct Western Intervention in Ukraine Dangers a Nuclear Battle

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia mentioned the West confronted the prospect of nuclear battle if it intervened extra instantly within the warfare in Ukraine, utilizing an annual speech to the nation on Thursday to escalate his threats towards Europe and the US.

Mr. Putin mentioned Western international locations that had been serving to Ukraine strike Russian territory “must, in the end, understand” that “all this truly threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.”

“We also have weapons that can strike targets on their territory,” Mr. Putin mentioned. “Do they not understand this?”

The Russian chief cited feedback by President Emmanuel Macron of France this week elevating the potential for sending troops from NATO international locations to Ukraine, a situation the Kremlin mentioned would result in the “inevitability” of a direct battle between Russia and the Western alliance.

America and different Western governments have largely tried to distance themselves from Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, and Mr. Macron’s remarks about the potential for Western troops being despatched to Ukraine drew fast rebukes from different Western officers, who’ve dominated out such deployments.

Mr. Putin, nevertheless, considers Russian-occupied Ukraine to be Russian territory, and he seized on Mr. Macron’s remarks to amplify his risk. “We remember the fate of those who once sent their contingents to the territory of our country,” Mr. Putin mentioned, an obvious reference to the invasions of Hitler and Napoleon. “But now the consequences for potential interventionists will be much more tragic.”

Mr. Putin’s threats on Thursday got here within the opening minutes of his annual state-of-the-nation speech, a keystone occasion within the Kremlin calendar by which the president declares his plans and priorities in a televised tackle to a whole lot of officers, lawmakers and different members of Russia’s ruling elite.

This 12 months, the speech took on added significance due to Russia’s presidential elections, scheduled for March 15-17, by which Mr. Putin is working for an additional six-year time period. He’s assured of profitable, however the Kremlin has mounted a concerted publicity marketing campaign forward of the vote, looking for to make use of it as a stamp of public approval for Mr. Putin’s rule, and by extension, his warfare.

The speech got here at a geopolitically delicate time: Greater than two years into the warfare, Russia has taken the initiative on the battlefield, army support is stalled within the U.S. Congress, and Western governments are at odds over how finest to assist Ukraine.

At residence, Mr. Putin is displaying no signal of slowing his crackdown on the opposition, which suffered a crushing blow with the demise of its imprisoned chief, Aleksei A. Navalny.

“Russia’s political system is one of the foundations of the country’s sovereignty,” Mr. Putin mentioned in his speech, suggesting he would proceed to stifle what he casts as Western-organized dissent. “We will not let anyone interfere in our domestic affairs.”

Mr. Putin has repeatedly made veiled nuclear threats towards the West since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years in the past, looking for to leverage Russia’s huge nuclear arsenal to discourage Europe and the US from supporting Ukraine.

He had appeared to dial down that rhetoric up to now 12 months. However on Thursday, he returned to it, coupling his threats with a declare that he was able to resume arms-control negotiations with the US — however solely, he prompt, if Washington was prepared to debate the warfare in Ukraine as nicely.

“Russia is ready for a dialogue with the United States on matters of strategic stability,” Mr. Putin mentioned, a reference to arms-control talks with Washington that had been briefly underway earlier than Russia’s invasion.

In an obvious reference to Ukraine, Mr. Putin added: “This must, naturally, be done only as a single complex, including all those aspects that affect the security of our country.”

The White Home, for its half, has rebuffed Mr. Putin’s efforts to put the United States at the center of any negotiations concerning the warfare in Ukraine. American officers have mentioned that the US has not and won’t negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.

Mr. Putin’s threats towards the West took up only some minutes of a speech that lasted greater than two hours. A lot of the tackle targeted on bread-and-butter home points like highways, well being care, vitality infrastructure and schooling.

However Mr. Putin framed all these home priorities as being contingent on the success of his invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin refers to because the “special military operation.” He supplied no new particulars on the warfare’s objectives or the way it may finish, saying solely that Russia aimed to “root out Nazism” — a reference to his frequent, false claims about Ukraine being run by “Nazis.”

“I will underline the most important thing,” Mr. Putin mentioned on the finish of his speech. “The fulfillment of all the targeted plans today depends directly on our soldiers, officers, volunteers — all the military personnel fighting right now on the front.”

It was a sign that Mr. Putin intends to make use of his March re-election to painting Russia as dedicated to the warfare, with the overwhelming majority of the general public behind it. Mr. Putin described the warfare’s troopers and supporters as Russia’s “true elite,” and unveiled a coaching program and different measures meant to raise veterans to administration positions in civilian life.

“They should take on leading roles in the education system, the upbringing of the youth, and in public associations, state companies, business and state and local governance,” Mr. Putin mentioned, referring to veterans of his Ukraine invasion. “They should head regions, companies and, ultimately, the biggest domestic projects.”