Putin says Russia planned to use its own troops to defeat Nato’s “enemies”

Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to use its military against what he called “increasing risks” from Nato, which he said was fueling tensions that had led the US and EU fears that Moscow was planning to invade Ukraine.

The Russian president told a high-level task force on Tuesday that the Kremlin was “deeply concerned” about Nato’s deployment near the country’s borders and the possibility of hypersonic weapons in Ukraine could hit Moscow in less than 10 minutes.

“If our Western allies continue to be violent, we will take appropriate military action in response to their atrocities,” Putin said, in a statement issued by RIA Novosti. “And I want to emphasize that we have the right to do what is necessary for Russia to be safe and self-sufficient.”

The remarks were Putin’s first since Russia unveiled a security plan targeting the US and Nato. It will also change much of Europe’s security after the Cold War by pushing NATO to its border before 1997, when it began to accept former Communist countries in eastern Europe.

Even US President Joe Biden and EU leaders have said so consider the idea, the tightening of demands and the Russians’ reaction made many Western officials and experts fear that this was the result of the war.

Russia has deployed nearly 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border in recent weeks but has denied Western claims that it intends to resume a slowly escalating conflict in the eastern Donbas region, where more than 14,000 people have died since 2014.

Putin did not mention what he meant by “military-technical means” or how Russia could send them.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, a Moscow-based diplomat who held security talks with the US and Nato, used the phrase last week to say that Russia would be forced to impose nuclear weapons already banned in Europe if the West ignored its demands.

Putin denied that the idea was final but said it was necessary to resolve a possible dispute. He said the US could use hypersonic weapons – which, unlike Russia and China, did not start well – as an anti-Moscow “umbrella”.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 120 U.S. troops were in the Donbas and warned of possible “initiation” of drug use. Although he did not testify, similar statements have already led to Russia’s war in countries such as Ukraine and Syria.

“What is happening here, the conflict in Europe is their problem. Russia has to answer for everything,” Putin said. “We are now in a situation where we are forced to take action.”