Russian leader Vladimir Putin certainly isn’t one of the good guys, and the scary part is that he’s done pretending that he is.
For decades, Putin relied on plausible deniability in order to remain in the lukewarm graces of the global community. But now, as the world has become fully aware of his troubling behavior, the former KGB agent has thrown his disguise to the wind, and in a shockingly brazen fashion.
For instance, this week, Putin essentially told the world that he would retaliate militarily against those who would seek to stop him from invading Ukraine.
Commenting on Western concerns about Russia’s alleged intention to invade Ukraine, he said that Moscow is equally worried about NATO drills near its borders.
Speaking to participants of an online investment forum. Putin said that NATO’s eastward expansion has threatened Russia’s core security interests. He expressed concern that NATO could eventually use the Ukrainian territory to deploy missiles capable of reaching Moscow in just five minutes.
“The emergence of such threats represents a ‘red line’ for us,” Putin said. “I hope that it will not get to that and common sense and responsibility for their own countries and the global community will eventually prevail.”
And then, in a gross expression of his endowment:
He added that Russia has been forced to counter the growing threats by developing new hypersonic weapons.
“What should we do?” Putin said. “We would need to develop something similar to target those who threaten us. And we can do that even now.”
He said a new hypersonic missile that is set to enter service with the Russian navy early next year would be capable of reaching targets in comparable time.
“It would also need just five minutes to reach those who issue orders,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s president recently revealed a plot, uncovered by his intelligence agencies, to commit a coup against his government. Russian actors appeared to be involved in that plan.
