Britain's Defence Secretary has warned Vladimir Putin to stop sabre-rattling after the Russian President told the West Russia was ready for a nuclear war if the US sent troops to Ukraine.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, on a visit to Poland to see UK troops taking part in NATO exercises, Grant Shapps said the only way forward for Russia was to pull out of Ukraine.
Mr Shapps's comments come after President Putin told Russian media that "from a military-technical point of view" his forces are ready for nuclear war.
Putin added that the US understood that if it deployed American troops on Russian territory - or to Ukraine - Russia would treat the move as an intervention.
"There are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint," he said.
"Therefore, I don't think that here everything is rushing to it but we are ready for this."
The Biden administration has said it has no plans to send troops to Ukraine but has stressed the need to approve a stalled security aid bill that would ensure Ukrainian troops got the weapons they need to continue the war, now in its third year.
The White House has said it has seen no sign that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons despite what it calls Putin’s “nuclear sabre-rattling”.
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