Vladimir Putin warned nuclear war could break out if Ukraine joins NATO and accused the West of complete disregard for their concerns hours after discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow.
The Russian strongman said he wanted to emphasise one more time that if Ukraine allies NATO, the European countries will be automatically drawn into a war conflict with Russia.
He said that states wouldn’t even have time to blink before invoking Article 5 of NATO which demands collective defence of members.
Vladimir Putin also said he recognised Moscow’s military strength was incomparable with NATO but cautioned Russia was one of the leading nuclear states and that there would be no victors in a hot war.
His comments came after long negotiations with Emmanuel Macron over the situation in Ukraine, which Vladimir 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.
Vladimir Putin has spent months massing some 135,000 troops backed by tanks and artillery on Ukraine borders, sparking repeated warnings from Washington that he’s about to invade.
Kommersant reported that it came after it emerged Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had no plans to take part in the Munich Security Conference set to take place on February 18-20.
Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov has already confirmed Vladimir Putin won’t attend the two-day summit, an annual cross Atlantic conference held in Munich since 1963 that focuses on international security issues.
Vladimir Putin claimed his Moscow talks with President Emmanuel Macron were constructive but said that he wanted to stress it one more time, that’s he’s been saying it, but that he wanted everyone to listen to him, and to deliver it to the audience in print, TV and online.
And that if we understood it or not, if Ukraine joins NATO and endeavours to bring Crimea back by military means, the European countries will be automatically pulled into a war conflict with Russia.
Vladimir Putin warned that of course, the military potential of NATO and Russia are incomparable and that they understand that, but that they also understand that Russia is one of the leading nuclear states, and by some modern components it even surpasses many, and that there will be no winners, and that we will be drawn into this war against our will.
He said that we won’t even have time to blink when the executive Article 5, collective defence of NATO members, and that, of course, Emmanuel Macron doesn’t want this, which was why he was there, torturing him for six straight hours.
Why can’t Vladimir Putin just chill out? He appears to be such an angry man, or is he just a warmonger? He appears to be an ageing dictator with an ego problem.
The problem is war today means mutually assured destruction for everyone and there would be no victors.
Vladimir Putin has accused the West of a total disregard for Russian feelings, what about those of the Ukrainian people? Don’t they have a right to live a peaceful life, but he appears to be completely disregarding them.
Eighty years on and humans still haven’t progressed past war, what a shameful species we really are! This man really does know how to cheer up one’s morning.
Obviously, it’s extremely difficult navigating the situation as we only hear a fraction of what’s actually going on behind the scenes. What we should be doing is respecting each other, it’s really not that difficult. What they should do is take a step back and come to some mutual agreement, however long it takes, it’s definitely better than nuclear war where no one will win.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 