DM Monitoring
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) countries of a potential nuclear conflict if they sent troops to Ukraine and urged Russia to strengthen its western military district following Finland and Sweden’s membership.
“Russia will not allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs,” said Putin during his annual address to the Russian parliament.
Putin criticised French President Macron’s statement that Western ground troops should not be “ruled out” for deployment to Ukraine, stating that such actions would lead to “tragic” consequences for the countries involved.
Putin said that the absolute majority of Russians support “special military operations”.
“The combat capabilities of the armed forces have increased manifold. Our units are firmly in possession of the initiative. They are confidently advancing in a number of operational directions, liberating new territories,” he said.
Putin, who has been in power for over two decades, has announced his intention to seek another six-year term in March next year, following his annual address to Russia’s Parliament two weeks before the expected election.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver his annual address to parliament and the nation on February 29, less than three weeks before an election that is set to hand him a new six-year term in the Kremlin.
Putin, in power as president or prime minister since 1999, uses the nationally televised speech to send signals to audiences at home and abroad.
As he prepares for the noncompetitive vote on March 15-17, Putin is likely to comment on matters ranging from the economy to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year.
He may not stray far from well-worn narratives and propaganda, but the points he chooses to emphasize and the pose he adopts will set the tone for a country mired in war and repression. In his two-hour state-of-the-nation address in February 2023, Putin devoted a large portion of his time to repeating his justifications for the full-scale invasion that he launched 12 months earlier. This year, he may repeat his false claims that Kyiv is run by fascists or that Ukraine is not a real country, but analysts will cut through any such material to look for clues as to how optimistic Putin is about the progress of the war and see whether he nudges the goalposts for what he hopes to achieve.
The meager results of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive, Russia’s recent capture of the eastern city of Avidiyivka, and growing signals of war fatigue from Ukraine’s supporters in the West may have emboldened Putin and the hawks within his inner circle.
