International

Kremlin warns of conflict with NATO if alliance troops fight in Ukraine

The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the worst crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and President Vladimir Putin has previously warned of the dangers of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron opened the door on Monday to European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned that there was no consensus at this stage.

"The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Macron's remarks.

Asked by reporters about the risks if NATO members sent their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov said:

"In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct conflict)."

Peskov said that the West should ask themselves if such a scenario was in the interests of their countries and their peoples.

Even talk of a confrontation between Russia and NATO - a Cold War nightmare of leaders and populations alike - indicates the dangers of escalation as the West grapples with a resurgent Russia 32 years after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Russia and the United States - the big power behind NATO - have the world's largest arsenals of nuclear weapons. President Joe Biden has cautioned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three.

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