Putin Calls 'Nonsense' Talks About US War Against Russia, China

The head of the Kremlin said that the countries are "scaring each other".

US statements about the need to prepare for a simultaneous war with China and Russia should not be taken seriously, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. In his opinion, the idea of a conflict between nuclear powers can hardly occur to people "in their right mind," The Moscow Times reported.

"But if it comes, it only makes us wary. And even more so to be at war with both Russia and China at once. Nonsense, of course. I don't think it's all serious. They are just scaring each other," Putin said in an interview with correspondent Pavel Zarubin. At the same time, he warned that if the U.S. does want to go to war with Russia, it will be "not a special military operation, but a completely different war."

Putin also noted that Washington itself is the initiator of the deterioration of relations with Moscow and Beijing, and, in addition, is pushing its European allies to do so, although Brussels "does not want to quarrel with China." According to him, the volume of EU trade with China is steadily growing, "and even at a greater rate" than Russia's.

Earlier, a US congressional commission presented a report recommending to increase nuclear and conventional weapons and strengthen military alliances. The document emphasised that Washington and its allies "must be prepared to deter and defeat" China and Russia simultaneously, as "the US-led international order and the values it upholds are under threat" from both "authoritarian regimes".

Russia recently decided to withdraw ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty at Putin's initiative. The Foreign Ministry said the authorities had "no other choice but to balance" the situation and put the country on an equal footing with the US.

Putin said the refusal to ratify would allow Russia to test "new weapons" to "make sure that the special warhead will work without failures." He then promised to put nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missiles and Sarmat missiles into mass production. Meanwhile, CNN wrote that Russia had begun preparing a test site on Novaya Zemlya for nuclear tests.

Earlier, Putin repeatedly promised to use nuclear weapons in case of a threat to Russia's territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty or existence.