Vladimir Putin warns Nato against sending troops to Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has warned Nato countries that deploying troops or weapons to Ukraine would be a red line for Russia and cause a strong response, including a potential deployment of Russian missiles targeting Europe.

As foreign ministers gathered in Latvia to talk about the military alliance's contingencies for a potential Russian invasion, Nato countries warned against further aggression against Ukraine.

Tensions have soared after a buildup of nearly 100,000 Russian troops, as well as tanks, artillery and even short-range ballistic missiles, within striking distance of Ukraine's borders.

A Russian offensive this winter remains very real because of a failing ceasefire agreement and worsening political climate, as it played out in April over a Russian troop build up, officials from the US and Ukraine have warned that the threat of a Russian offensive this winter is very real, despite a failing ceasefire agreement and a worsening political climate.

In his most expansive comment on the crisis on Tuesday, the Russian president complained about Nato's historical expansion to Russia's borders and warned that substantial Nato military support for Ukraine would cross a red line for Russia.

Where are the red lines in Ukraine? He made televised remarks during an investment conference. They are above all in the creation of threats to us which could come from Ukraine. He warned against the stationing of missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland in Ukraine. Putin claimed that they could serve as a cover to deploy offensive weapons such as Tomahawk missiles capable of reaching Moscow in a matter of minutes.

He said that Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles, and that we would have to create a similar threat to those who are threatening us. He said that we can already do that.

Putin's remarks seemed to echo the fears of Europe's cold war missile crises. Nato countries such as the United States have provided Kyiv with military aid, including lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles. There are no plans to have air defence batteries in Ukraine, aside from isolated discussions among lawmakers.

In Riga, the capital of Latvia, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the West was on alert over Russia s increasingly bellicose rhetoric and unusual troop movements.

Any escalatory actions by Russia would be a great concern to the United States and any renewed aggression would cause serious consequences, he told reporters ahead of Tuesday s talks.

Western countries sanctioned Russia for sending its soldiers and heavy weapons to fight in south-east Ukraine, where more than 14,000 people have been killed since 2014.

Since 2017, Nato has deployed four international battalion groups to Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in order to deter Russia from launching an attack.

Britain's foreign secretary, Liz Truss, met British soldiers stationed in Estonia on Tuesday. She called the country that borders Russia, the frontier of freedom. Britain stands with NATO allies to defend liberty and democracy and counter malign threats, she wrote in a tweet. She said that any action by Russia to undermine the freedom and democracy our partners enjoy would be a strategic mistake. Russian officials hurled accusations at Nato countries along the border, saying they had to send troops to the borders with Ukraine and Belarus because of Nato's aggressive posture.

Sergei Lavrov compared Ukraine's situation to that of Georgia in 2008 and indicated that Russia would launch a larger war over its support of the separatist territories it controls in Ukraine.

Fyodor Lukyanov, an expert on Russian foreign policy, wrote last week that Russia was seeking guarantees that Ukraine would never join Nato in an unofficial capacity as an ally against Russia.

Belarus has threatened to join Russia if war breaks out with Ukraine. On Monday, Minsk announced it would hold joint military exercises with Russia on the southern border of Belarus. It claimed that they were provoked by Ukraine deploying troops to the border area due to the growing migration crisis sparked by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

In remarks on Tuesday, Lukashenko said he was ready to host Russian nuclear missiles if western countries were to do the same.

"We are ready for this in Belarus," he told an interviewer from Russian state television, saying he believed that the infrastructure like silos for holding nuclear weapons was in working order.