Russia President Vladimir Putin confirms to the world on Thursday that the most dangerous decade ever since World War II is here.
In his longest public appearance since he invaded Ukraine on February 24:
Putin played the blame game again and accused the West of inciting the war and of playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” game that was sowing chaos across the world.”
The Russian leader blamed the West for stoking recent nuclear tensions, citing remarks by former British Prime Minister Liz Truss about her readiness to use London’s nuclear deterrent if the circumstances demanded it.
Asked about a potential nuclear escalation around Ukraine, Putin said the danger of nuclear weapons would exist as long as nuclear weapons existed.
He stated he had no regrets about what he terms “a special operation” and that West dominance is coming to an end.
But he said Russia’s military doctrine was only being defensive.
When asked about the Cuban Missile crisis, he quipped that he had no desire to be in the place of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader who, along with John F. Kennedy, took the world to the brink of nuclear war before defusing the situation.
“No way. No, I can’t imagine myself in the role of Khrushchev,” Putin said
He as well refuted suggestion by Kyiv that the Russian charge might mean Moscow plans to detonate a dirty bomb and called it false.
He cast the conflict in Ukraine as a battle between the West and Russia for the fate of the second largest Eastern Slav country which he said had ended in tragedy for Kyiv.
