Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of attempting to use “nuclear blackmail” against his country, warning that Russia has “lots of weapons to reply.”
Addressing his country this week amid the ongoing Ukraine war, Putin insisted he was “not bluffing” and would use nuclear weapons if he deemed it necessary to defend the “territorial integrity” of Russia.
“Now they (the West) are talking about nuclear blackmail,” he said, claiming that some representatives of NATO countries had raised the idea of using nuclear weapons against Russia.
He said that Russia “has various weapons of destruction, and with regard to certain components they’re even more modern than NATO ones,” adding:
“If there is a threat to the territorial integrity of our country, and for protecting our people, we will certainly use all the means available to us – and I’m not bluffing.”
He also ordered the partial mobilisation of around 300,000 Russian military reserve troops.
The comments come after Irish politicians have repeatedly affirmed that Ireland is “not neutral” in the Ukraine war, including Defence Minister Simon Coveney and Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Ireland not neutral on issue of Ukraine, says Coveney https://t.co/AFP0noEmYG via @IrishTimesPol
— Irish Times Politics (@IrishTimesPol) March 10, 2022
Notably, in 2001, an old Cold War-era Soviet list of “European Cities Targeted for Nuclear Destruction” was released, featuring major cities such as Vienna, Munich and Verona for atomic annihilation. Ireland, however, did not feature on the list at the time.
Now, during the current conflict in 2022, the Russian ambassador to Ireland claimed this year that Ireland is at the forefront of “anti-Russian events” in the EU.
Ireland at forefront of ‘anti-Russian events’ in EU, Russian ambassador claims
via @IrishTimeshttps://t.co/GPwL3p7TUE— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) March 4, 2022
Shortly after, Russian state television posted a 3D model of Ireland and the UK being wiped off the map by nuclear weapons.
Russian state media shows graphic of Ireland destroyed by nukes#gripthttps://t.co/zJJwMM83Iq
— gript (@griptmedia) May 3, 2022