Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance would mean the planet is one step away from World War Three, but said that hardly anyone wants such a scenario.
The war in Ukraine has sparked the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Putin has often warned of the risks of nuclear war, but says he has never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that he could not rule out the future deployment of ground troops to Ukraine, with many Western countries distancing themselves from it while others, particularly in Eastern Europe, expressed support.
Asked by Reuters about Macron’s remarks and the risks and possibility of conflict between Russia and NATO, Putin joked: “anything is possible in the modern world.”
“It’s clear to everyone that this will be one step away from full World War III. I think few people care,” Putin told reporters after winning the biggest landslide in post-Soviet Russian history.
However, Putin added that NATO military personnel were already present in Ukraine and said that Russia had intercepted both English and French on the battlefield.
“There’s nothing good about it, especially for them because they’re dying there and in large numbers,” he said.
Ahead of Russian elections held on March 15-17, Ukraine stepped up attacks against Russia, shelling border areas and even using proxies to try to breach Russia’s borders.
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When asked whether he considered it necessary to capture Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Putin replied that if the attacks continued, Russia would create a buffer zone from greater Ukrainian territory to defend Russian territory.
“I do not rule out that, in view of the tragic events that are taking place today, we will be forced at a certain moment, when we deem it appropriate, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ in the territories today under the Kiev regime,” Putin said. he said.
He declined to provide any further details, but said such a zone could be large enough to prevent foreign weapons from reaching Russian territory.
Putin ordered a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking a major European war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.
Putin said he would like Macron to stop seeking to worsen the war in Ukraine, but to play a role in the search for peace: “It seems that France could play a role. All is not lost yet.”
“I have said it again and again and I will say it again. We are for peace talks, but not only because the enemy is running out of ammunition,” Putin said.
“If they really, seriously, want to build long-term peaceful, good neighborly relations between the two states, and not simply take a break to rearm for 1.5-2 years.”
