Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
Putin revisited some familiar themes as he delivered his annual State of the Union address ahead of next month's presidential election.
CNN –
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West of the risk of nuclear war if it sent its own troops to fight for Ukraine, saying Moscow had the weapons to attack Western targets.
In his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, Putin said claims that Russia was planning to attack Europe were “nonsense” but warned that his country could attack Western countries with nuclear weapons.
Putin referred to an idea from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said on Monday that the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine “cannot be ruled out.” Several European leaders immediately rejected the proposal.
“Everything that they are coming up with now, with which they are threatening the whole world – all this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and thus the destruction of civilization – don't you understand that, or what?” said Putin.
“They ultimately have to understand that we also have weapons – and they know about it, as I said now – we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” he warned.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, Putin has repeatedly raised the specter of nuclear weapons. Russia transferred tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus last year, and CNN reported this month that Russia is trying to develop a nuclear space weapon that could destroy satellites.
After Putin's speech, the US State Department said it had “no indications” that Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons but would “continue to monitor this carefully.”
“This is not the first time we have seen irresponsible rhetoric from Vladimir Putin,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference. “We have communicated privately and directly with Russia in the past about the consequences of using a nuclear weapon.”
According to Russian state media TASS, Putin's speech lasted more than two hours, surpassing his previous record. It came shortly before Russians voted in the presidential election on March 17, 2030.
He praised the progress of the Russian military, which he said is “advancing confidently in a number of operational areas and liberating more and more areas” and now “firmly holds the initiative” in Ukraine after Kiev recently withdrew from the eastern city of Avdiivka.
He confirmed that Russia would increase its military presence along its western border to “neutralize the threats” of NATO expansion after Finland and Sweden joined the alliance following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin also used his speech to praise the performance of the Russian economy and unveil new national projects ahead of March's presidential election, in which he faces no credible opposition after the country's only anti-war candidate was barred from running and Putin's Alexei Navalny greatest opponent, died last Friday in an Arctic prison.
Despite Western sanctions, Russia's economy has “developed much more dynamically” than that of the rest of the world, “especially with regard to the other countries of the so-called G7,” Putin said.
He acknowledged that Russia is not yet at the “peak” of its population due to societal changes, such as young people pursuing careers and delaying having children. Like many other countries, Russia is struggling with the challenge of falling birth rates.
“Supporting families with children is our fundamental moral choice. “A large family with many children should become the norm, the philosophy of social life, the guiding principle of the entire state strategy,” Putin said, announcing social support programs for mothers.
Speaking about Russia's health policy, he also recommended that Russian citizens adhere to the Soviet-era motto: “Stop drinking, start skiing.”
Putin praised those who served in the “special military operation,” the Russian euphemism for the war in Ukraine, and said the veterans “can receive higher education and civilian specialization at our leading universities.”
He called those who served Russia's “true, real elite,” in contrast to those who “lined their pockets due to all sorts of processes in the economy in the 1990s” as the Soviet Union collapsed.