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Russian President Putin: "Then we will strike back"
Photo: MIKHAIL METZEL / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL / EPA
Roughly nine and a half months after invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ruling out a long war against the neighboring country.
"Of course, it can be a long process," Putin said on Wednesday at a meeting with representatives of a human rights council he had appointed himself.
Putin expressed reservations about the further course of the war, which in Russia can only be called a »special military operation«.
He will initially refrain from mobilizing more reservists, said the President.
According to Putin, around 150,000 of the 300,000 reservists who were recently called up, according to official figures, are deployed in Ukraine.
Independent Russian media, citing circles close to the Kremlin, reported that the members of the Human Rights Council had to pledge before the meeting not to raise certain issues with Putin, such as the poor equipment of the army.
The members of the committee are hand-picked by Putin, and he recently had critical representatives replaced.
Nuclear weapons as "protection"
Furthermore, Putin emphasized that nuclear weapons only serve to protect the country and its allies and as a deterrent.
Strikes against military bases within Russia during the Ukraine war recently raised concerns about a further escalation of the conflict.
Such a tightening could possibly also be accompanied by the use of nuclear weapons.
Russia's military strategy envisages using weapons of mass destruction in response to an attack, Putin said.
"That means if a blow is struck against us, then we will hit back in response." Russia sees the weapons as "protection."
Putin had already put the nuclear forces on alert at the beginning of the Russian invasion of the neighboring country in February.
The move was understood as a threat to the US and NATO countries to stay out of the war in Ukraine.
The use of nuclear weapons was already an issue in Russia
Former President Dmitry Medvedev has repeatedly spoken of the possibility of nuclear war.
In addition, the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was also discussed in Russia in order to achieve faster results.
In view of the global outrage, Russia had recently significantly reduced its nuclear threats.
Nevertheless, Putin said at the meeting that the "danger of a nuclear war" is increasing: "The danger is growing".
At the same time, he emphasized: "We don't have our nuclear weapons, including tactical ones, on the territory of other countries, the Americans have them - in Turkey and in a whole series of other European countries."
fek/dpa/Reuters
