Russia has again threatened to unleash nuclear armageddon on the West, as tensions between Moscow and European capitals threaten to explode. The Kremlin has reacted furiously to European plans for a post-war peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron, along with Sir Keir Starmer, have led discussions over future security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a ceasefire being agreed. Both leaders have signalled they are prepared to commit troops to Ukraine to police any future peace deal. However, the Kremlin has flatly rejected the idea of any NATO troops being stationed in a post-war Ukraine.
In an ominous warning, Vladimir Putin said Western soldiers in Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets for defeat”.
That message was reinforced by the leading Kremlin propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov, during one of his radio talk shows.
The Kremlin apparatchik said: “Do we even realise what kind of situation we are in? Everything is clear to everyone. Europe is getting ready for a war against us. Suddenly the fool Macron makes a statement and says he will fight against Russia and will send a contingent. Whom will you send and where? We will kill all of you.”
The French President has stressed that Western troops would be deployed to prevent “any new major aggression” and not at the front line. The force “does not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia”, he said.
Solovyov also took aim at the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The US official recently hinted that the White House was prepared to increase economic pressure on Russia and urged the EU to slap secondary tariffs on European countries still buying Russian oil.
“If the US and the [European Union] can come in, do more sanctions, secondary tariffs on the countries that buy Russian oil, the Russian economy will be in total collapse, and that will bring President Putin to the table.”
However, Solovyov scoffed at the idea that more sanctions could bring Russia to heel.
“He says it’s a question of what will collapse first – the Russian economy after all sanctions are imposed or the Ukrainian army,” he said.
“For some reason he thinks that if all possible sanctions are imposed against us we will sit down at the negotiating table. We’ll just strike with our nuclear weapons and that’s it. We’ll carry out a strike and that’s it.”