Putin warns of nuclear war in conflict with West

(CN) — In a jingoistic state-of-the-nation speech touting Russia as an invincible superpower, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Western powers of raising the risk of nuclear war by seeking to defeat his troops in Ukraine.

With its deeply nationalistic and militaristic message, the speech confirmed Putin's grip over Russia as he heads toward re-election in presidential elections on March 17. Putin, 71, came across as confident, calm and healthy in what was his 19th state-of-the-nation speech.

For many in the West, the speech was further proof of Putin's insatiable and barbaric imperialistic desires and how he has become a dangerous dictator who threatens world peace while violently repressing dissent at home.

For Putin, the address to lawmakers, top officials, church leaders and elites gathered inside an elegant exhibition hall near Red Square served to proclaim that Russia was on the path to victory in Ukraine and robust economic growth, and at the forefront of historical trends upending the Western-dominated world order.

His sharpest words were directed at Western powers, which he accused of seeking to “sow discord” in Russia in order to weaken and destroy it.

He took aim at French President Emmanuel Macron's recent comments about the possibility of needing to send Western troops to help defend Ukraine. Baltic leaders are echoing Macron's statements and saying troop deployments should not be ruled out.

“We remember what happened to those who sent their contingents to the territory of our country once before,” Putin said, alluding to Nazi Germany's attack on Russia. “Today, any potential aggressors will face far graver consequences. They must grasp that we also have weapons — yes, they know this, as I have just said – capable of striking targets on their territory.”

The West “not only seeks to impede our progress but also envisions a Russia that is a dependent, declining and dying space where they can do as they please,” he said, as translated by the Kremlin.

But he said Russia's troops in Ukraine, drawn from across the country's vast regions and diverse ethnic groups, had proven that the “centuries-old cohesion and unity of the people of Russia are a formidable and invincible force.”

“All of them, shoulder to shoulder, are fighting for our shared motherland,” he said, drawing applause from the chamber. “Together, as citizens of Russia, we will stand united in defense of our freedom and our right to a peaceful and dignified existence.”

He charged the West of provoking the conflict in Ukraine and failing to take the risk of escalation toward nuclear war seriously. He blamed Western leaders of being blinded by their hatred of Russia.

“Like any other ideology promoting racism, national superiority or exceptionalism, Russophobia is blinding and stupefying,” he said.

Putin said the West wants to draw Russia into an exhausting arms race “mirroring the strategy they successfully employed with the Soviet Union in the 1980s.”

In that decade, he said the Soviet Union's military expenses amounted to 13% of its gross domestic product. By comparison, Russia's military spending has hovered around 4% of GDP, though it plans to hike that to about 6% this year.

He said Russia's military spending must both bolster the country's defense and serve to improve “scientific, technological and industrial capabilities.”

Russia has developed a range of highly sophisticated weapons and military technologies that have helped Russian troops gain the upper hand in Ukraine in recent months.

Still, he kept the door to diplomacy open and said Washington and its allies can work with Moscow to rebuild a security system that considers Russia's interests. “Clearly, a new equal and indivisible security framework must be created in Eurasia in the foreseeable future,” he said. “We are ready for a substantive discussion on this subject.”

He added: “I would like to reiterate — I think this is important for everyone — that no enduring international order is possible without a strong and sovereign Russia.”

But he also made it clear he doubted he could reach any agreement with U.S. President Joe Biden because his administration is “taking openly hostile actions toward us.”

Globally, he said Russia and its allies in BRICS, a growing trade network of developing nations, are taking the lead from the West and its “former monopolies and stereotypes.”

He said BRICS nations will make up about 37% of global GDP by 2028 while the economies represented by the Group of Seven, made up of rich Western nations, will fall below 28% of global GDP.

“These figures are quite telling because the situation was completely different just 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “These are the trends, you see. These are the global trends, and there is no escaping them since they are objective reality.”

After lashing out at the West, Putin spent the bulk of the remaining time in the speech on bread-and-butter issues that sounded like a reelection pitch.

He talked about Russia's successes in fostering good relations with Asian, Middle Eastern and African nations and he touted plans to reduce the number of people living in poverty, expand housing, improve medical services and build more sporting facilities and schools. He also laid out strategies to encourage Russians to have large families through social benefits, tax deductions and direct payments.

He wanted to paint Russia as a country with a promising future for its young people, a portrayal ridiculed by his critics.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau

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