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Vladimir Putin swanks about Russia's nuclear arsenal: ‘We do what we want’
Vladimir Putin: The Russian leader said that his forces “have the initiative” on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said that Moscow has modernized almost its entire strategic nuclear arsenal. The role of Russia’s air, sea and land nuclear triad in maintaining a balance of power “has increased significantly” amid the “emergence of new military-political risks,” Vladimir Putin said as per Bloomberg. The proportion of modern weaponry in its nuclear forces “has been brought to 95% and in the naval component almost 100%" this year, he said.
The Russian leader said that his forces “have the initiative” on the battlefield in Ukraine. Russia will proceed from its own interests when dealing with Ukraine, regardless of Kyiv's attempts to make any agreements, he asserted.
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“We do what we think is necessary, what we want,” he said, adding that Ukraine “is suffering heavy losses and has largely squandered its reserves.”
Accusing the United States of exploiting Europe for its own interests, Vladimir Putin said that Russia planned no war on Europe.
He said Ukrainian membership of NATO "is not acceptable for Russia in 10 years, and not in 20".
This comes as fighting along the front line has largely reached a stalemate as winter sets in. Russia has 617,000 troops deployed in Ukraine and its nuclear forces are ready amid political divisions in the US and the European Union, he said.
Earlier, the Kremlin chief had said that Russia has “no reason or interest” to fight with North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries.
“We are interested to develop relations with them,” he said.
