Putin says Russia ready for N-war, but there is no rush

Russian President Vladamir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin says,

"Russia remains in a state of combat readiness and is fully ready for a nuclear war, but "has no real rush to push for it" at the present."

Speaking to an interview with the state media, Putin, who is almost certain to win the upcoming March 15 to 17 presidential election, said Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons if at all it's sovereignty was threatened.

Speaking to Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA, Putin said, "From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready," in response to a question if the country was really ready for a nuclear war.

He said the United States understands that if it deploys American troops on Russian territory - or to Ukraine - Russia would treat the move as an intervention.

"There are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint," Putin said about the United States.

"Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this."

He reiterated that the use of nuclear weapons was spelled out in the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine, its policy setting out the circumstances in which Russia might use its weapons.

"If at all there is a need, weapons exist in order to use them," Putin said. "We have our own principles."

"Why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need."

Adding to the remark, he also clarified that if the United States conducted nuclear tests, Russia might do the same, he added in the wide-ranging interview.

"Although it's not necessary.. we still need to think about it, but I don't rule out that we can do the same."

Putin also said that Russia never had faced a need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, since the beginning of conflict that has taken to the warfront since February 2022.