Putin’s Ultimatum to Europe: “If Europe Wants War, We Are Ready”

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Europe of adopting the idea of delivering a strategic defeat to Russia and “continuing to live with these illusions,” despite, in his words, knowing such an outcome is impossible. He argued that Europe—by attempting to block President Trump’s peace process—has no real peace agenda and is choosing escalation instead.

Putin delivered some of his harshest and most threatening remarks toward Europe to date:

“We have no intention of going to war with Europe. I have said this hundreds of times. But if Europe wants to fight us and starts a war, we are ready immediately—without any doubt. If Europe suddenly decides to enter into a war with us, I believe it would unfold very quickly.

This would not be like Ukraine. In Ukraine, we are carrying out a surgical operation and acting with caution. This is not a war in the modern sense. If Europe suddenly wants to go to war with us and initiates it, we could very soon find ourselves in a situation where there is no one left to negotiate with.”

Source: Anadolu Agency