Putin warns that Russia is ready for nuclear war if threatened

"Therefore, I don't think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits in a cockpit of a flight simulator at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. Pictire: AP

=Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine it would be considered a significant escalation of the war.

Putin, speaking just days before a March 15-17 election which is certain to give him another six years in power, said the nuclear war scenario was not "rushing" up and he saw no need for the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.