Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US and its allies on Wednesday not to challenge or test his military amid heightened tensions at the border with Ukraine and in the Black Sea.
The Russian leader swore that any country that crossed Moscow’s “red line” on territorial and other issues would “regret their actions” as he delivered his state-of-the-nation speech in front of both houses of parliament.
“I hope no one dares to cross the red line with regard to Russia, and we will determine where it is in each specific case. Those who organize provocations that threaten our core security interests will regret their actions more than they have regretted anything for a long time, ”the 68-year-old president began.
“We want good relationships, and we really don’t want to burn the bridges down,” he continued. “But if some confuse our good intentions with indifference or weakness and plan to burn or even blow up those bridges themselves, Russia will be asymmetrical, fast and tough.”
Putin went on to denounce nations that impose “illegal, politically motivated economic sanctions and brutal attempts to enforce his will on others,” appearing to refer to sanctions just passed by President Biden against the Kremlin. were placed.
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 supporting Allied breakaway states in Georgia and Moldova.
Putin led the annexation of Crimea in 2014 without Ukraine’s consent in a rare current border change by force.
The deployment of Russian forces is often obscure, but Putin’s government is said to have sent troops to Crimea to facilitate the 2014 annexation and secretly supported a few breakaway provinces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine .
The Kremlin has continued to increase its military presence in the region, particularly with its naval vessels in the Black Sea.
Biden declared a national emergency in the region last Thursday, imposing sanctions on more than three dozen people in Russia and eliminating ten diplomats.
At the same time, he scrapped plans to send two American warships to the Black Sea.
Putin’s comments on Wednesday come a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Putin to meet him in the Donbas region for peace talks.
“Mr. Putin, I am ready to go even further and invite you to meet in any part of the Ukrainian Donbas where war is underway,” said Zelensky in a 13-minute speech uploaded Tuesday.
“Once the President of the Russian Federation said, ‘if a fight is inevitable, you must strike first.’ But in my opinion, every leader today must understand that a fight cannot be inevitable if we are not talking about alleys and hooligans, but a real war and millions of human lives. And unlike combat, all sides lose in war. “
The news of the meeting’s invitation came as the Russian military continues to ramp up its fighter jets and other equipment, according to satellite images released this week from Morozovsk airbase.
Photos from the scene show 15 fighter jets on the tarmac, awaiting orders to go to the border.
With pole wires