Moscow, 13 March

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened, issuing another blunt warning to the West just days before an election in which he's all but certain to secure another six-year term.

The Russian leader has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022. The most recent such threat came in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he warned the West that deepening its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclear war.

Asked in an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there has been no need for that. He also noted that he doesn't think that the world is heading for a nuclear war, describing US President Joe Biden as a veteran politician who fully understands the possible dangers of escalation.

When asked for UN Secretary-General António Guterres' reaction to Putin's remarks, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said “all rhetoric that could lead to miscalculation or escalation with obvious catastrophic consequences for the world must be avoided".

Putin's comments appeared to be a message to the West that he's prepared to use all means to protect his gains in Ukraine. He said that in line with the country's security doctrine, Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to “the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence”. “All that is written in our strategy, we haven't changed it,” he said.

In an apparent reference to NATO allies that support Kyiv, he also declared that “the nations that say they have no red lines regarding Russia should realize that Russia won't have any red lines regarding them either.”

Lithuania's foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, recently lamented that the West too often constrains itself with self-imposed “red lines” regarding Russia. He also welcomed a comment by French President Emmanuel Macron that the possibility of Western troops being sent to Ukraine couldn't be ruled out.

Putin noted the statements from Biden and his administration that the US wasn't going to send its troops to Ukraine. He charged that if the US acts otherwise, Moscow would see the American troops as invaders and act accordingly. He claimed that even if some NATO allies deploy troops to Ukraine, it won't change the course of the war.

“If it turns to official foreign military contingents, I'm sure it will not change the situation on the battlefield...just as the weapons supplies haven't changed anything,” he said.

In the wake of recent battlefield gains, Putin argued that Ukraine and its Western allies will eventually have to accept a deal to end the war on Russian terms. “It shouldn't be a break for the enemy to rearm, but a serious talk involving the guarantees of security for the Russian Federation,” he said.