President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia took a much less strident tone on the potential for nuclear struggle in an interview launched on Wednesday, an obvious try to bolster his home picture as a guarantor of stability earlier than the Russian presidential election this weekend.
In a prolonged interview launched by Russian state tv, Mr. Putin struck a softer tone than in his state-of-the-nation tackle final month, when he stated that the West risked inflicting the “destruction of civilization” if it intervened extra immediately in Ukraine. In the interview, Mr. Putin described the United States as in search of to keep away from such a battle, at the same time as he warned that Russia was ready to make use of nuclear weapons if its “sovereignty and independence” had been threatened.
“I don’t think that everything is rushing head-on here,” Mr. Putin stated when requested whether or not Washington and Moscow had been headed for a showdown. He added that despite the fact that the United States was modernizing its nuclear pressure, “this doesn’t mean, in my view, that they are ready to start this nuclear war tomorrow.”
“If they want it — what can we do? We’re ready,” Mr. Putin stated.
In the interview, Mr. Putin additionally denied having thought of utilizing weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine within the fall of 2022, as American intelligence officers have asserted.
The feedback appeared aimed largely on the Russian voters, coming two days earlier than polls open within the presidential election, which runs from Friday to Sunday. While Mr. Putin is all however assured to win a fifth time period, the Kremlin is eager to drive up turnout to current the vote as a stamp of approval for the president and his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
One well-liked pro-Kremlin blogger summed up Mr. Putin’s message this manner: “There won’t be nuclear war.”
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, critics of Mr. Putin have more and more taken goal at what he has lengthy offered as maybe his largest home promoting level: the notion that he introduced safety and stability after Russia’s chaotic Nineteen Nineties. Russians seem significantly nervous in regards to the prospect of nuclear battle; 55 % of respondents informed an unbiased pollster in January that they feared a brand new world struggle.
But in his dealings with the West, Mr. Putin sees the specter of Russia’s monumental nuclear arsenal as one in all his handiest devices. He has repeatedly made reference to that arsenal when attempting to discourage Western nations from extra actively supporting Ukraine, most not too long ago in his Feb. 29 annual tackle, when he portrayed the deployment of forces from NATO nations to Ukraine as a step that may result in nuclear struggle.
In the interview launched on Wednesday, Mr. Putin tried to handle the Russian public’s fears whereas conserving stress on the West. Asked whether or not Russia and the United States had been enjoying a recreation of hen, Mr. Putin described President Biden as in search of to keep away from a direct struggle and stated that Ukraine’s destiny was of far larger significance to Russia than to the United States.
“I’ve said that Biden is a representative of the traditional political school,” Mr. Putin stated. “For us, this is a question of life and death, whereas for them it’s a question of improving their tactical position.”
American officers have stated that Mr. Putin got here closest to utilizing nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine within the fall of 2022, when Russia’s floor forces had been on the again foot and American intelligence intercepted frequent conversations within the Russian army about reaching into the nuclear arsenal.
Asked within the interview launched on Wednesday whether or not he had thought of utilizing “tactical” nuclear weapons at that time, Mr. Putin stated that “there was never such a need.”
“We have our own principles — what do they say?” Mr. Putin stated, referring to Russia’s nuclear doctrine. “That we are ready to use weapons, including any weapons, including those you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, about doing damage to our sovereignty and independence.”
When requested about his invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Putin stated that Russia would push on and improve its firepower on the battlefield to scale back its personal casualties.
As he did in final month’s speech, Mr. Putin described his finish aim in Ukraine as a cope with the United States akin to the “security guarantees” that Russia proposed in 2021, on the eve of the invasion, which might have given Moscow a brand new sphere of affect in Eastern Europe and which the West rejected as unacceptable. He additionally indicated that he noticed Russia’s negotiating place as enhancing, given its army’s advances on the battlefield.
“We are ready, nevertheless, for a serious conversation,” Mr. Putin stated. “But we need to plainly and clearly understand for ourselves that this is not a pause that the enemy wants to take to rearm, but that this is a serious conversation with security guarantees for the Russian Federation.”
Source: www.nytimes.com