It is no secret that fighters from NATO states are present on the ground in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed. He warned that these troops face extremely grim prospects.
Speaking to his supporters and the media on Sunday night after his landslide presidential election victory, Putin stressed that Moscow is well aware of calls in the US-led military bloc to potentially deploy troops to Ukraine.
“We hear both French and English speech there. There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they die there and in large numbers,” he said.
Putin also weighed in on the potential for a full-scale conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that it could not be ruled out. “Anything is possible in the modern world… But everyone knows that this would be one step shy of a full-scale World War III. I don’t think that anyone is interested in that.”
French President Emmanuel Macron suggested last month that the West “cannot exclude” the possibility of sending soldiers to aid Ukraine. He later described Russia as an “adversary,” insisting, however, that Paris is not “waging war on” Moscow.
Commenting on Macron’s remarks, Putin noted that while NATO troops in Ukraine are expected to act as an auxiliary force, helping Kiev train its military, “this is not much different from what mercenaries are doing there now.” Russia, he added, wants France not to escalate the conflict but to help find a peaceful solution to hostilities.