Putin says the West has pushed him to his ‘red lines’ in WW3 threat

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday accused the West of pushing Russia to its ‘red lines’ and made chilling threats to lift restrictions on Russian missile deployment. The tyrant president told a meeting of defence officials that Moscow was watching the US development and potential deployment of short and medium-range missiles with concern. He said Russia would lift all of its own voluntary restrictions on the deployment of its own missiles if the US went ahead and deployed such missiles.

Putin, who said Russian forces in Ukraine has taken control of 189 settlements so far this year, said Russia’s nuclear weapons were there for deterrence. Last month, Putin decided to hit war-torn Ukraine with a never-before-seen hypersonic, nuclear-capable missile, called Oreshnik. The Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) triggered a series of explosions in the city of Dnipro, with the attack coming less than 24 hours after Ukraine reportedly struck targets in Russia’s Kursk region with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Pieces of the nuclear-capable weapon were found scorched and shredded on the ground in a hangar at a facility which conducts weapons forensics in the Ukrainian city. Ukraine said the weapon reached a top speed of more than 8,000mph as it headed towards Dnipro on November 21. ‘This is the first time that such remnants of such a missile have been discovered on the territory of Ukraine,’ said an investigator for the Security Service of Ukraine at the time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the use of the weapon, which is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, a severe escalation and urged his allies to respond. The attack came after US President Joe Biden lifted a long-time ban on Ukraine’s use of US-supplied long-range missiles – which means the war-torn country can now strike deep into Russia. In September, Putin revealed his ‘red line’ for using nuclear weapons which included Western leaders allowing Ukraine to use their missiles to target Russia.

Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat, said at the time the ‘red line’ was intended as a ‘very clear message’: ‘Don’t make a mistake – all these kind of things may mean nuclear war. I’m really concerned about all the loose talk,’ he said, with actors in Ukraine dismissing the threats as a bluff. ‘We run head-on into a situation which is completely unfamiliar to us … If you do not factor in the risks, you are likely to have a very unpleasant surprise.’ But Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, took a different view.

He said that the new ‘red line’ was just a ‘a psychological PR operation, by the Kremlin, without much substance’. ‘It is designed to scare leaders & voters of countries supporting Ukraine.’ Ukraine dubbed the threat ‘nuclear blackmail’, but assured that Putin would not risk alienating himself by using nukes on the West. ‘In my opinion, this is yet another bluff and demonstration of Putin’s weakness,’ Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, said on X. ‘He will not dare to use nuclear weapons because that will make him a complete outcast.’

Putin’s latest threats come as the Russian president said Monday his troops had the upper hand across the entire front line in Ukraine and were accelerating their advance. ‘Russian troops are firmly holding the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact,’ Putin told his military generals in a televised meeting. He said Russia’s seizure of 189 Ukrainian settlements this year made 2024 a ‘landmark year in the achievement of the goals of the special military operation,’ using Moscow’s official language for its campaign.

Speaking after Putin at the same meeting, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said Russia’s troops had seized almost 4,500 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory this year and were now gaining around 30 square kilometres a day. He said Ukraine controlled less than one percent of the eastern Lugansk region, and around 25-30 percent of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Russia claimed in 2022 to annex all four, despite not having full control over any of them. Its troops have been advancing across the Donetsk region throughout the year, claiming on Monday to have captured another small village there.

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