Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and US-led NATO military alliance will take the planet close to World War Three, Reuters reported.
Putin made the remarks after bagging ‘the biggest ever landslide victory in post-Soviet Russian history’.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a spiraling crisis in the relations between Moscow and the West, often teetering to the point of a direct confrontation.
It is only intensified by Putin’s frequent threat of nuclear war, creating a situation reminiscent of 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
However, Putin, according to Reuters, said he never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, added to the situation saying he did not rule out sending ground troops in Ukraine.
While Easter Europe threw their weight behind it, many Western countries distanced themselves from it, according to the report.
When asked about the possibility of a conflict between Russia and NATO in the context of Macron’s remarks, Putin told Reuters that it “is possible in the modern world."
"It is clear to everyone, that this will be one step away from a full-scale World War Three. I think hardly anyone is interested in this," Putin was quoted as saying.
Putin claimed that English and French speaking personnel were picked up from battlefield in Ukraine, citing that NATO military personnel were already present there.
‘There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they are dying there and in large numbers,’ he reportedly said.
Putin said if attacks continued Russian would create a buffer zone in more Ukraine territory to defend Russian territory, meaning he would consider taking Ukraine's Kharkiv region, as per the report.