Moscow [Russia], February 29 (HBTV): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned of "tragic consequences" for any Western country that dared to send its troops to fight in Ukraine.
"They have announced the possibility of sending Western military contingents to Ukraine. The consequences for possible interventionists will be much more tragic," Putin said while delivering his annual address to both houses of the Russian Parliament and other members of the country's elite in Gostiny Dvor in Moscow.
The daily reported that Putin's comments appeared to be a response to French President Emmanuel Macron's refusal earlier this week to rule out sending troops to Ukraine.
The United States, Germany, Britain, and others had rejected Macron's suggestion.
"They should eventually realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. Everything that the West comes up with creates the real threat of a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilization," Putin said, addressing the Federal Assembly, two weeks ahead of presidential elections in the country.
Russian state media TASS reported that Putin, in his 19th State of the Nation speech, emphasized that the actions of the US and its allies have led to the dismantling of the European security system. According to Putin, "this creates risks for everyone", TASS reported.
Putin added that allegations that Russia plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space were unfounded.
'There has recently been an increasing number of unfounded accusations against Russia, alleging that we plan to deploy nuclear weapons in space. Such bogus stories — and they are nothing but bogus stories — are a ploy to drag us into talks on their terms, which only benefit the US,' the president satted as per TASS.
The Russian president said that his country did not start the war in Ukraine's Donbas region in 2014 but assured doing everything to end it and 'eradicate Nazism'.
(ANI) This is a syndicated news feed. HBTV has edited it for brevity and clarity.