Anand President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (Feb 29) delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address to Russia’s elite as he updated them about the ongoing war against Ukraine.
Putin talked about Moscow’s nuclear capabilities by announcing the deployment and tests of new hypersonic weapons. He also issued a warning to the West saying that Russia had weapons that could strike within their territory and that their threats created a “real” risk of nuclear war.
At his annual state of nation address, which came ahead of a March 15-17 presidential election, Putin said “They [West] should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory.”
“Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation,” he added.
The war in Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, has led to the worst crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
During the course of the war, Putin has issued several warnings to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members against sending military assistance and ground troops to Ukraine as he said it would cause a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
