{"id":12453,"date":"2024-03-28T19:18:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T19:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/putin-offers-both-reassurance-and-threat-on-a-wider-war\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T19:18:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T19:18:07","slug":"putin-offers-both-reassurance-and-threat-on-a-wider-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/putin-offers-both-reassurance-and-threat-on-a-wider-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin Offers Both Reassurance and Threat on a Wider War"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/24\/multimedia\/28russia-attack-top\/24moscow-attack-ledeall-fvhg-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Putin Offers Both Reassurance and Threat on a Wider War\" title=\"Putin Offers Both Reassurance and Threat on a Wider War\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has warned that if F-16 fighter jets supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies operated from airfields in other countries, the bases would be \u201clegitimate targets\u201d for attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a speech to Russian Air Force pilots late Wednesday, however, Mr. Putin rejected suggestions from some Western leaders that Russia is planning to invade NATO countries as \u201ccomplete nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The threat that Russia might move against other countries has become one of the main arguments used by the Ukrainian government and its supporters to try to persuade the U.S. to dispatch more military aid to the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said again in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U24-M8N9SL8\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">an interview<\/a> with CBS News published on Thursday that war \u201ccan come to Europe, and to the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt can come very quickly to Europe,\u201d said Mr. Zelensky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a resolution that would have extended U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea\u2019s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was acting to keep the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans for use in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Russian vote \u2014 a reversal from its past support for the monitoring program \u2014 drew condemnation from world leaders. In the United States, the White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, called it a \u201creckless action\u201d that made clear the growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The vote came a day after Mr. Putin visited the provincial town of Torzhok in the Tver region north of Moscow, where he inspected a training center for Russian military pilots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking with the pilots, Mr. Putin said that Russia spent only a fraction on its military of what the United States does. \u201cConsidering this difference,\u201d he said, concerns that Moscow would fight NATO are \u201cnonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin also reiterated his argument that NATO\u2019s enlargement in the wake of the Soviet collapse was the primary reason for his decision to attack Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDid we cross the ocean and approach U.S. borders?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo, they are the ones who are closing in on us, and they have reached our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Putin did leave open the door to an expanded battlefield when it came to the decision by Ukraine\u2019s allies to equip it with American-made F-16 fighter jets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cF16 aircraft can also carry nuclear weapons, and we will have to heed this while organizing our combat operations,\u201d said Mr. Putin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a resolution that would have extended U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea\u2019s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was acting to keep the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans for use in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine has also figured large in the Kremlin\u2019s response to the terrorist attack that killed at least 143 people last week at a concert hall outside Moscow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since shortly after the attack, Mr. Putin and other Russian officials, without evidence, have depicted Ukraine as the likely mastermind behind it. Mr. Putin eventually acknowledged that the assault had been \u201cperpetrated by radical Islamists,\u201d but stuck with the contention that Ukraine could have ordered it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Thursday, continuing in that vein, Russia\u2019s investigative committee, the country\u2019s equivalent to the F.B.I., said in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sledcom_press\/12386\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a> that it had \u201cobtained evidence\u201d that the attackers were \u201cconnected with Ukrainian nationalists,\u201d without specifying what that proof was.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Investigators said that they had \u201cconfirmed data that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack received significant amounts of money and cryptocurrency from Ukraine, which were used in preparing the crime.\u201d They also said that another person had been arrested in connection with the attack and would soon appear in court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian government has denied any involvement in the assault. The United States and other Western governments have said repeatedly that the Islamic State \u2014 which itself has issued two <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/22\/world\/europe\/isis-moscow-attack-concert-hall.html\" title=\"\">claims of responsibility<\/a> \u2014 was behind the assault and that Ukraine was not involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With 74 victims of the concert hall attack still hospitalized, Mr. Putin has yet to visit them or to go to the site of the attack. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday that Mr. Putin had been heavily involved in the rescue effort on the night of the attack, and that a visit to the site of the attack would hinder their work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Emin Agalarov, an executive with the owner of the concert hall, the Crocus Group, on Thursday defended how his staff had handled the attack and its aftermath, including a fire in the hall, and the building\u2019s complied with fire safety and security requirements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Agalarov that security guards barred by law from carrying firearms by law. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/smotrim.ru\/article\/3875191?utm_source=internal&amp;utm_medium=vesti2&amp;utm_campaign=vesti-main-theme\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Speaking<\/a> on state television, Mr. Agalarov said that fire and other emergency systems worked normally and allowed thousands of people to evacuate the building.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has warned that if F-16 fighter jets supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies operated from airfields in other countries, the bases would be \u201clegitimate targets\u201d for attack. In a speech to Russian Air Force pilots late Wednesday, however, Mr. Putin rejected suggestions from some Western leaders that Russia [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/24\/multimedia\/28russia-attack-top\/24moscow-attack-ledeall-fvhg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1069,209,17817,2888,3102,13500],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12455,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453\/revisions\/12455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}