Putin's Ominous Warning: Nuclear Threat Looms Over NATO Escalation

Putin told reporters gathered in Tashkent during an official visit to the central Asian country of Uzbekistan, which is a former Soviet Republic, "Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences."

He also hinted at the prospect of nuclear war in posing: "If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons?"

"It's hard to say - do they want a global conflict?" Putin questioned, warning that Ukraine hitting Russian territory with externally supplied long-range weapons would make the West directly involved in the conflict.

He also appeared to reference a new agreement between Kiev and Paris which will see French military trainers be deployed to Ukrainian soil. Putin remarked that this puts the situation a big step closer to major direct confrontation between Russia and France - and ultimately the NATO alliance. That's when he warned the following...

They... "should be aware of what they are playing with" as they had small land areas and dense populations.

"This is a factor that they should keep in mind before talking about striking deep into Russian territory. This is a serious thing, and we are of course watching it very closely," Putin said.

Week after week, officials in the West find new ways to escalate (also in light of Russian forces making rapid gains in Kharkiv), and given that Zelensky has said it's 'impossible' to sit down at the negotiating table with Moscow so long as Putin is in power, there appears to be no off-ramp whatsoever.

Indeed we might add to Putin's remarks that everyone is playing with fire... and this has been the case for a long time now. There are very few European leaders willing to openly resist this intensifying push to escalate at this point.

This article originally appeared on Zero Hedge