President Putin warns Western countries against sending troops to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Western countries against sending troops to Ukraine.

He said the consequences of such a decision would be “tragic.”

In his annual State of the Union address, President Putin accused Western countries of trying to drag Russia into an arms race.

At the same time, he said that now that Sweden and Finland have joined NATO, Russia needs to strengthen the defense of its western borders.

Putin said the West had “provoked” the conflict in Ukraine and “continues to shamelessly lie about Russia’s alleged intention to attack Europe.”

Perhaps mindful of French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement earlier this week that sending NATO ground forces to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out,” Putin said “the consequences for those who might intervene… That would be tragic.”

“We also have weapons that can attack targets within our territory,” he added.

“All of this really threatens conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they understand that?”

Several NATO countries, including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, have ruled out sending ground forces to Ukraine.

The United States criticized the Russian president’s recent comments about the possibility of nuclear war. “This is not the first time we have seen President Vladimir Putin make irresponsible statements,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

“It is impossible for a leader of a nuclear-armed state to say something,” he said, adding that the United States had seen no evidence that Russia was planning to launch such a weapon.

Putin also boasted about Russia’s advanced weapons, including hypersonic aircraft and unmanned underwater vehicles, and said Russia’s strategic nuclear forces were in “a state of full readiness.”

Notably, Putin explicitly called the two-year fighting in Ukraine a “war,” despite repeatedly insisting that Russia’s invasion should be described as a “special military operation.” It is.

He said an “absolute majority” of Russians supported his decision to invade Ukraine, and Russians were now united against what he called Western attempts to weaken the country. said.

He also harshly criticized US accusations that Russia is developing nuclear weapons for use against satellites in space.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the speech “could be interpreted to a large extent as follows.” [Putin’s] election program.”

Indeed, many of the speeches focused on domestic issues, from modernizing the tax system to pensions and incentives aimed at boosting Russia’s declining birth rate.

He also spoke of the need to improve the health of the population and announced a series of measures aimed at increasing life expectancy in Russia, which currently stands at 70 years, one of the lowest in Europe.

He urged people to focus on physical activity and cut down on alcohol, joking: “Stop drinking and start skiing!”

The speech lasted a record two hours and was attended by all senior politicians, the CEOs of oil and gas companies Rosneft and Gazprom, as well as religious leaders of all denominations.

The film was broadcast on giant screens across Moscow and was reportedly shown for free in some cinemas in Russian cities.

As expected, there was no mention of the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian penal colony two weeks ago and was seen by many as Putin’s biggest opponent.