Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO alliance could bring the planet to the brink of World War Three, a scenario he believes few desire. The Ukraine war has plunged Moscow's relations with the West into their deepest crisis since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Despite frequently warning of nuclear war risks, Putin maintains he has never considered using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the future deployment of ground troops in Ukraine, a stance met with mixed reactions across the West. While many countries distanced themselves from the idea, some Eastern European nations expressed support. When asked by Reuters about Macron's remarks and the potential for a Russia-NATO conflict, Putin remarked, "Everything is possible in the modern world."
"It is clear to everyone that this would be a step away from full-scale World War Three, which hardly anyone wants," Putin stated after achieving the largest post-Soviet election landslide in Russian history. He also mentioned that NATO military personnel were already present in Ukraine, with Russia intercepting English and French communications on the battlefield. "This is not good, especially for them, as they are dying in large numbers," he added.
BUFFER ZONE
Ahead of the March 15-17 Russian election, Ukraine intensified its attacks on Russia, shelling border regions and employing proxies to breach Russian borders. When asked if he might consider taking Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Putin suggested that continued attacks could force Russia to establish a buffer zone from additional Ukrainian territory to protect Russian borders.
"I do not exclude the possibility that, given the current tragic events, we might be forced to create a 'sanitary zone' in territories under Kyiv's control," Putin said, without providing specifics but indicating that such a zone would need to be large enough to prevent foreign arms from reaching Russian territory.
Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, escalating a major European war following eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian Ukrainians and proxies. He expressed a wish for Macron to stop exacerbating the war and instead help broker peace: "France could play a role. All is not lost yet."
"I've repeatedly said that we are open to peace talks, but not merely because the enemy is running low on ammunition," Putin continued. "If they genuinely want to build peaceful, neighborly relations in the long term and not just rearm for 1.5-2 years, we are open to dialogue."
U.S. DEMOCRACY
Putin dismissed U.S. and Western criticism of the recent Russian election, which the White House condemned as neither free nor fair. He also criticized U.S. elections as undemocratic, citing the use of state power against Donald Trump. "The whole world is laughing at what is happening there," Putin said of the United States. "It is a catastrophe, not democracy. What is it?"
Regarding the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Russian Arctic prison on February 16, Putin stated that Navalny had simply "passed away," using Navalny's name publicly for one of the first times. He revealed he had agreed to a prisoner swap for Navalny days before his death, a deal reported by Reuters in February. "I agreed, on the condition that he never returns," Putin said. Navalny's widow, Yulia, has accused Putin of killing her husband, a claim Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as incorrect.
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