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A defiant Vladimir Putin railed at the US and its allies Thursday, accusing them of playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” game of global domination — and denied that Russia has ever considered using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts in Moscow, Putin said it was unnecessary for Russia to strike Ukraine with atomic weapons.
“We see no need for that,” Putin said. “There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.”
Putin said an earlier warning of his readiness to use “all means available to protect Russia” didn’t amount to nuclear saber-rattling but was merely a response to statements made by Western leaders — specifically now-former British Prime Minister Liz Truss — about their possible use.
“What were we supposed to think?” Putin said. “We saw that as a coordinated position, an attempt to blackmail us.”
He said Russia’s military doctrine was defensive in comments that came a day after his country’s military carried out drills simulating a retaliatory nuclear strike.
In one of his longest public addresses since the invasion of Ukraine — clocking in at more than 3 hours — a seemingly relaxed and confident Putin warned that the world was at a “historic frontier.
