Putin Says He's Ready for Nuclear War

Is Putin serious or bluffing?

Nuke Bag

Just weeks after reports swirled about Russia possibly sending nuclear weapons into orbit, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a not-so-subtle message to the West: he's got nukes and he is ready to use them, NBC News reports.

Putin relayed this combative message during an interview with Russian state news, right before the country's presidential election. (The autocratic Putin is projected to win, unsurprisingly.)

"From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready," Putin said during the interview about the country's nukes, as translated by NBC.

Putin further said that Russia's collection of nuclear weapons is "more modern" compared to the arsenal of other nuclear powers, including America.

If these comments have you ready to dig a nuclear fallout shelter, Putin also said he doesn't think there will be a nuclear war anytime soon. But just last month, he warned that if Western states send soldiers into Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022, there could be the potential risk for nuclear war.

Poking the Bear

Though Putin loves to raise the hackles of every security analyst from London to Washington DC, his saber rattling is usually all bark and no bite.

"[I]f we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, about the threat to our sovereignty and independence," Putin said during the interview.

Complicating the narrative are intelligence reports of Russia's secretive preparations to launch a nuclear anti-satellite weapon into orbit, which set politicos and policy analysts abuzz.

Such a weapon would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bans weapons of mass destruction from being deployed in space. Neither America nor any other global power has nothing to combat any such space-based weapon fired by Russia or any other country.

So far, according to experts, it seems that Russia hasn't launched any nukes into space — and hopefully, it never will.

More on nuclear weapons: Rumors Swirl That Russia Plans to Launch Space-based Nuclear Weapon