“Maybe the people of Russia should stop supporting Putin and de-escalate the conflict?”
Putin warned this week that Russia is ready to use its nuclear weapons if the US sends troops to Ukraine.
He said: “Apart from (US President Joe) Biden, there are enough other experts in the sphere of Russian-American relations and strategic restraint. So I don’t think that everything is going to go head-on here, but we are ready for it.
“They are now setting tasks to increase this modernity, innovation, they have a corresponding plan. We know about it too. They are developing all their components. So are we.
“Weapons exist in order to use them. We have our own principles.”
In February, Putin also used his State of the Nation Address to warn that Russia could use its nuclear weapons.
He said: ″[The West] must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that?”
Western officials confirmed this week that Russia has moved nuclear weapons to neighbouring Belarus.
Belarus, led by Alexander Lukashenko, has provided support for Putin during his war with Ukraine.
