Putin's Comments On Nukes Most Explicit To Date

As part of his annual address to the Federal Assembly, the two chambers of the Russian parliament, President Vladimir Putin made some of the most explicit threats to the West regarding the potential use of nuclear weapons to date. In the aftermath of French President Emmanuel Macron raising the prospect of NATO/European troops being on the ground in Ukraine, Putin warned of "the fate of those who once sent their contingents to our country. Now the consequences for possible interveners will be much more tragic."

• He then went on to say that “They [the West] should eventually realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilisation,”
• While Russian politicians have previously used bombastic language and warned of responses/retaliation to the West's continued support of Kyiv, Putin's explicit raising of the prospect of the use of nuclear weapons does come as a notable escalation.
• More sustained rhetoric around nuclear threats from Russia could see European NATO members look to ramp up not only support for Ukraine but their own military and defence capabilities. Given the costly and long-term nature of such spending, many gov'ts are likely to face difficult choices between either raising taxes to pay for defence outlays or making spending cuts in other areas to finance their militaries.