Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s friend Viktor Medvedchuk predicted that a nuclear attack would “most likely” be imminent.
Putin and senior Russian officials have threatened nuclear escalation against Kyiv and its Western partners since Moscow introduced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In his annual State of the Nation report last month, Putin warned that “Russia’s strategic nuclear forces are fully ready. “He also warned that there is a genuine threat of nuclear war if Western countries send troops into Ukraine, as France claims. President Emmanuel Macron warned of this last month.
Western nations, Putin added, “must perceive that we also have weapons capable of hitting targets on their territory. All of this threatens a clash with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t you feel it?”
However, Macron appears to have backtracked on his comments last month about sending troops into Ukraine. In an interview with the Czech newspaper Novinky. cz. Macron is under pressure that France is not actively contemplating sending military forces to Ukraine.
“When they asked me about sending troops, I said nothing was out of the question,” he recalled. “This does not mean that we are contemplating the option of sending French troops to Ukraine in the near future, however, we are starting talks and thinking about everything that can be done with Ukraine, especially on Ukrainian territory. “
On Friday, according to the Russian news agency Tass, pro-Russian Ukrainian Medvedchuk, who went into exile in Russia in 2022 in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war, predicted that a nuclear attack would “most likely” be imminent as the West continues to “assert its right to global domination. “
“If the collective West continues to assert its right to global domination, Ukraine’s human capital will not be enough anyway. . . If we continue the policy of war to the end, sooner or later foreign troops will have to be brought in. And most likely, [we will consider] a nuclear attack,” he said.
However, Medvedchuk does not rule out that countries outside Europe could worry if the conflict spreads. “It’s clear that the Arab world is being dragged into war, and after that, China and India will also be worried, that they don’t have disorders with their soldiers. “
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry’s email for comment.
It comes as Western leaders, including President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, have consistently warned that a direct relationship between Russia and NATO is unthinkable given the nuclear risks.
However, Putin and the Kremlin have long portrayed their war in Ukraine as a preemptive war against the “collective West. “
“The West has miscalculated and clashed with the business posture and determination of our multinational people,” Putin told officials, parliamentarians and civil society figures in his annual address.
Meanwhile, NATO leaders, specifically on the alliance’s long border with Russia, warn that a direct clash with Moscow poses a realistic danger, suggesting that the West has between 3 and 10 years to prepare for war. However, Putin called the precautions “nonsense. “
“At the same time, they themselves aim to attack our territory,” the Russian leader said in reference to Scholz’s revelation that the British and French armies were helping Ukraine attack Russian positions with Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles.
Natalie Venegas is a weekend reporter at Newsweek in New York City. She focuses on education, social justice issues, physical care, crime, and politics, while specializing in marginalized and underrepresented communities. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, Natalie worked with news publications. such as Adweek, Al Día, and Austin Monthly Magazine. Se graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. You can reach Natalie by emailing n. venegas@newsweek. com.
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