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President Vladimir Putin, who won the Russian presidential election by a landslide, issued a stern warning to NATO about the real potential of World War III. Photo/REUTERS
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday (18/3/2024) issued a strong warning to NATO about the real potential of World War III.
This warning was delivered after he won a landslide victory in the Russian presidential election (pilpres) by winning more than 87 percent of the vote.
The Russo-Ukrainian war, which broke out on February 24, 2022, has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Putin has frequently warned of the risk of nuclear war but said he never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron last month said he could not rule out deploying ground troops in Ukraine in the future, as many Western countries had distanced themselves from it.
Several NATO countries, especially in Eastern Europe, expressed support for Macron's ideas.
When asked by Reuters about Macron's remarks and the risks and possibility of conflict between Russia and NATO, Putin replied: “Everything is possible in the modern world.”
“It is clear to everyone that this will be one step away from a full-scale World War III. I think almost no one is interested in this,” Putin said.
But Putin added that NATO military personnel were already present in Ukraine, and said that Russia had adopted English and French for use on the battlefield.