Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the deployment of European troops to Ukraine would amount to direct war with Russia, as tensions continue to rise over proposals for European security guarantees for Kyiv.
Speaking on Friday, Putin said Moscow had no plans to threaten European countries and accused European leaders of pushing their populations towards a confrontation with Russia despite what he described as the absence of grounds for such a conflict.
“The deployment of European troops to Ukraine would mean war with Russia,” Putin said.
The warning comes amid continuing discussions among Ukraine’s European allies over a possible multinational force that could be deployed to Ukraine as part of security arrangements following a potential ceasefire or peace agreement with Russia.
European governments have been exploring ways to provide Ukraine with long-term security guarantees while reducing the risk of another Russian offensive. France, Britain and other members of the so-called coalition of the willing have discussed a possible European military presence in Ukraine, including roles linked to training, protection and support for Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has consistently rejected the idea of Western troops operating inside Ukraine, arguing that such a deployment would represent a direct security threat to Russia.
Putin also accused Western governments of having pursued a long-term strategy of pressuring Russia, first through separatist movements and terrorism in the Caucasus and later through Ukraine.
“The West first tried to pressure Russia through terrorists and separatists in the Caucasus and is now doing so through the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine,” Putin said.
He further blamed what he called Western “globalists” for the wider political, security and economic crisis facing Europe.
“Everything that is happening now in Europe as a whole is the result of systemic mistakes by the so-called West or, more precisely, Western globalists in the fields of politics, security and economics,” Putin said.
According to the Russian president, Western governments became increasingly confident after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, leading them to believe they could act without making serious mistakes.
“They began to think that everything was permitted and that they could not make mistakes,” Putin said, arguing that those mistakes accumulated over time.
Putin also pointed to the growing support for Germany’s Alternative for Germany, or AfD, as evidence that European voters are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of their governments.
The AfD recently secured about 44% of the vote in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state election, its strongest result in a German state election and a major setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU. The party has campaigned against continued support for Ukraine and in favour of restoring closer relations with Russia.
Putin’s comments come as the war enters another period of escalation. Russian forces continue to launch attacks against Ukrainian cities, while Ukraine has intensified long-range drone strikes against targets inside Russia. On Friday, Russian strikes on Kyiv killed two people and injured 12 others, while Ukrainian attacks killed three people in Russia, according to reports.