Using Nuclear Weapons In Ukraine “Makes No Sense At All To Us”: Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that the globe is likely to enter the “most hazardous” decade since World War II’s end, framing the Ukraine crisis as part of a larger battle against Western dominance.

Putin claimed that Russia was not only opposing the West but also fighting for its own right to exist, arguing that Western dominance in world affairs was coming to an end.

Putin said as Ukrainian forces reclaimed more of the region Moscow had claimed as their own and had gathered additional soldiers to protect.

Using nuclear weapons in Ukraine “makes no sense to us,” according to Vladimir Putin. Since March, talks between Kiev and Moscow have been stuck, with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

“Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of the Second World War,” Putin told members of the annual Valdai Discussion Club, in a lengthy question-and-answer session.

He described the situation as “to a certain extent revolutionary,” defining the Ukraine offensive as part of the “tectonic shifts of the entire world order.”

“The historical period of undivided dominance of the West in world affairs is coming to an end,” Putin remarked. “The unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past.

The West was unable to rule mankind while yet “desperately” attempting to do so. “Most peoples of the world no longer want to put up with it,”  he stated.

And Russia’s president has described the present situation as a fight for existence.

“Russia is not challenging the elites of the West, Russia is just trying to defend its right to exist,” he said.

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‘Dirty bomb’ row

Putin also returned to the row over Russian allegations that Ukraine was preparing to use a “dirty bomb” against its soldiers.

Kyiv was “doing everything to cover up traces of this preparation” for such a bomb, he said.

On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), responding to the allegations, said it regularly visited two sites that Moscow had raised questions over.

The UN agency’s inspectors had found nothing untoward and were preparing to visit again in the coming days, the statement added.

“We are in favour,” said Putin. “And it should be done as fast as possible.”

A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb laced with radioactive, biological or chemical materials which are disseminated in an explosion.

Over the past week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has repeated the claims regarding a Ukrainian dirty bomb in conversations with his counterparts in France, the US, the UK, China and India.

France, the US and the UK have all rejected the claim, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Russia might be trying to use the claim as a “pretext” for escalation.

Kyiv meanwhile, has said it suspects Russia might itself use a dirty bomb in a “false flag” attack.

But Putin said Thursday using nuclear weapons in Ukraine would “make no sense at all to us — either in political or military terms”.

Stalled talks

Earlier Thursday, the Kremlin said Ukraine had pulled out of peace talks with Moscow back in March on orders from Washington.

“The text was ready… And then suddenly the Ukrainian side went off the radar, the Ukrainian side declared its unwillingness to continue negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow have stalled since March, each side blaming the other for the stalemate.

Zelensky on Wednesday dismissed any possibility of talks with Moscow, denouncing Putin’s “planned rhetoric”. In late September, he said he would not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin was president.

Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine has met with repeated setbacks.

Putin has in recent weeks changed his military commander there after Kyiv’s forces launched a  counter-offensive, recapturing territory in the east.

Last week, Putin introduced martial law in four Ukrainian regions that he has declared annexed: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk.

The annexation announcement came in late September, despite Moscow’s forces not controlling some of the regions fully. Most recently, for example, there has been fierce fighting in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s occupied region of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday ordered phone checks on local residents.

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