by Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and NATO would bring the world closer to a new war, but added that virtually no one wanted such an outcome .
Since Moscow launched what it presented as a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, denounced by Kyiv and its allies as an invasion, relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated to an unprecedented level. precedent since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Asked by Reuters about the comments of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last month not to exclude the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine – a hypothesis immediately dismissed by other allies of Kyiv -, and about the risk of a conflict with NATO, Vladimir Putin quipped: “Everything is possible in the modern world.”
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Emmanuel Macron, who said he did not want an “escalation”, last week called on the West for a “start”, warning that a Russian victory in Ukraine would constitute an “existential threat” for Europe.
“It is clear to everyone that a (conflict between Russia and NATO) would mark the final stage before a Third World War. I think that practically no one wants that,” Vladimir Putin told the press. after having, unsurprisingly, won the Russian presidential election by a large margin.
The Kremlin leader added, however, that NATO military personnel were already in Ukraine. Russian troops heard communications in English and French on the battlefield, he said.
“There is nothing good in all this, first of all for them since they are dying there and in large numbers,” he continued.
Vladimir Putin said he hoped that Emmanuel Macron would stop trying to fuel tensions over Ukraine, inviting his French counterpart to play a role for peace. “All is not lost yet,” he said.
“I have said it again and again, and I will say it again: we are in favor of peace talks, and not just because the enemy is running out of ammunition,” he added.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; French version Jean Terzian)
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