Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued a harsh warning to the US and its allies not to provoke or test its army amid rising tensions on its border with Ukraine and the Black Sea.
The Russian leader promised that any country that crossed the “red line” of Moscow in terms of territorial and other issues would “regret their deeds” while holding its nation-state speech in front of both chambers of parliament.
“I hope that no one dares to cross the red line towards Russia and we will determine where he is in each specific case. Those who organize any challenges that threaten our main security interests will regret their deeds more than they have regretted for a long time “, the 68-year-old president began.
“We want good relations and we don’t want to burn the bridges,” he continued. “But if some err in our good intentions of indifference or weakness and intend to burn or even blow up these bridges, Russia’s response will be asymmetrical, quick and harsh.”
Putin went on to denounce nations that impose “illegal, politically motivated economic sanctions and rude attempts to impose their will on others,” appearing to refer to the sanctions President Biden has just imposed on the Kremlin.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the warning.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has supported pro-Russian insurgents in neighboring republics – including the support of separatist allies in Georgia and Moldova.
Putin presided over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 without Ukraine’s consent to a rare current change of the border by force.
The deployment of Russian troops is often troubled, but Putin’s government is believed to have deployed troops in Crimea to facilitate the 2014 annexation and secretly supported a pair of separatist provinces in the eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The Kremlin continued to increase its military presence in the region, especially with its naval ships in the Black Sea.
Biden declared a national emergency in the region last Thursday, imposing sanctions on more than 30 people in Russia and expelling 10 diplomats.
At the same time, he canceled plans to send two American warships to the Black Sea.
Putin’s remarks come on Wednesday a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Putin to meet with him in the Donbas region for peace talks.
“Sir. Putin, I am ready to go further and invite you to meet in any part of the Ukrainian Donbas where the war is going on,” Zelensky said in a 13-minute speech on Tuesday.
“Once, the president of the Russian Federation said, ‘If a fight is inevitable, you must first strike.’ In my opinion, every leader today must understand that a fight cannot be inevitable when we are not talking about alleys and hooligans, but about a real war and millions of human lives. And unlike fighting, in a war, all sides lose. ”
News of the invitation to the meeting came as the Russian army continues to lift its fighter jets and other equipment, according to satellite images released this week from Morozovsk air base.
The images on the stage show 15 fighter jets on the asphalt, waiting for orders to head to the border.
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