Although Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that there is an increasing likelihood of a nuclear war, he insisted that Moscow has not “gone mad” and would not use its arsenal first.
The US on Wednesday rushed to condemn what it portrayed as “free talk” about atomic weapons after Putin said Russia would just involve a nuclear weapon in light of an adversary strike.
Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, told reporters: We believe that any casual discussion of nuclear weapons is completely irresponsible.
Following Putin’s veiled threat to use nuclear weapons in September, the United States previously issued Moscow a warning about using nuclear weapons.
Putin declared that the Russian people would “defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal” during a televised meeting of his human rights council on Wednesday.
The most recent in a string of such warnings, he stated that Russia saw its arsenal as a means of retaliation rather than a first strike and that the risk of nuclear war was increasing.
Putin stated, “We haven’t gone mad, we know what nuclear weapons are.”
“We have these means in a form that is more advanced and modern than any other nuclear country… But we aren’t going to run around the world with this weapon like a razor,” the statement reads.
The council, which Putin attends every year, is criticized for allowing him, according to critics, to pretend to support civic freedoms while intensifying repression and suppressing opposition.
Read More: Russia War With Ukraine: Is Ukraine Putin’s Western Hemisphere?
War in Ukraine could be ‘long’
Putin also said that Russian forces could fight in Ukraine for a long time, but he didn’t think it made “sense” to add more troops at this point.
Using his preferred term for Russia’s invasion, which began toward the end of February, Putin stated, “As for the duration of the special military operation, well, of course, this can be a long process.”
After a call-up of at least 300,000 reservists in September and October, he stated that there was no need for a second mobilization.
Putin expressed 150,000 of these were sent to Ukraine: 77,000 are in combat units and the remaining 7,000 are in defensive roles. The remaining 150,000 were still enrolled in training facilities.
He stated, “Under these circumstances, talk about any additional mobilization measures simply makes no sense.”
Despite the fact that he boasted in July that Russia was only just getting started, Putin has rarely discussed the probable duration of the war.
Despite Russia’s significant retreats since then, Putin has stated that he has no regrets about starting the war, which was Europe’s most devastating since World War Two.
Read More: The Critical Role of Organizations in the Russia-Ukraine War
More sanctions from Europe
In the meantime, the European Commission proposed a ninth set of sanctions against Russia that would add nearly 200 individuals and organizations to the European Union’s list of targets.
In a statement, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that Russia “continues to bring death and devastation to Ukraine and is deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, seeking to paralyze the country at the beginning of the winter.”
She went on to say that the eight packages of EU sanctions that had been implemented up to this point were already having a significant impact and that the group wanted to use the ninth package to put more pressure on Russia.
Read More: The Russia Ukraine Crisis; is it really a World War III?
On October 5, the eighth package was approved.
Von der Leyen stated that the Russian armed forces, individual officers, members of the State Duma and Federation Council of the Russian parliament, ministers, governors, and political parties were among the new individuals and entities proposed for the sanctions list.
The Commission stated that it also aimed to restrict the Kremlin’s access to unmanned aerial vehicles and drones, as well as to prohibit the direct export of drone engine to Russia and any third country, such as Iran, that could supply Moscow with drones.
Source: News Agencies
