Putin openly threatened Europe on camera

(Patria) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned European powers on Tuesday that if they go to war with Russia, Moscow will be ready for battle and that Europe's defeat would be so complete that there would be no one left to negotiate peace with.

Almost four years after the start of the war in Ukraine – the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II – Russia has not yet managed to conquer its significantly smaller neighbor, which is supported by European powers and the United States. Ukraine and European countries have repeatedly warned that if Putin wins this war, he could attack a NATO member, a claim the Russian president has countless times dismissed as nonsense.

When asked by journalists about claims in the Russian media that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó warned that Europe was allegedly preparing for war against Russia, Putin said that Moscow does not want war with Europe.

"If Europe suddenly decides to start a war with us and does so," Putin said, "then everything would end for Europe so quickly that we in Russia would have no one to talk to." He used the Russian word for "war" in his statement. At the same time, he suggested that the war in Ukraine is not a "real," all-out war, but that Russia is acting "surgically" there – which, as he emphasized, would not be repeated in a direct conflict with European powers.

In February 2022, Putin sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine, triggering the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War era.

US officials estimate that more than 1.2 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia publishes its actual losses.

Putin accused European powers of hindering US President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war by proposing solutions they know would be "absolutely unacceptable" to Moscow, so that they could then accuse Russia of not wanting peace.

He also said that European countries have excluded themselves from peace negotiations on Ukraine by breaking off contact with Moscow, adding: "They are on the side of war."

Putin further threatened to deny Ukraine access to the sea in response to drone attacks on tankers from Russia's "shadow fleet" in the Black Sea.