Vladimir Putin issued a chilling warning to Europe as he said Russia is “ready to fight now”. The Russian President was attending an investment forum held by VTB Bank, titled ‘Russia Calls!’, on December 2 as he issued the threat.
He said, as reported by Interfax: “We are not going to fight with Europe, but if Europe wants to fight us, we are ready right now.”
The Russian president met one of Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff in Moscow at 2pm (GMT) today to discuss the revised version of America’s mammoth 28-point peace plan.
The plan was heavily revised after several meetings with Ukrainian officials who argued Trump’s plan weighed far too strongly in Moscow’s favour.
Alongside Witkoff, Trump has set his son-in-law Jared Kushner to try and get a peace deal over the line. Kushner has previously been involved in negotiating the Gaza peace deal and has also met with several Ukrainian officials in the lead up to today’s meeting.
The Kremlin revealed that no other U.S officials will be involved in today’s meeting with Putin.
However, just moments before the major meeting was scheduled to take place, Moscow hit out at Ukraine‘s European allies – including one of its biggest military backers in the UK.
Putin’s threat of conflict with Europe stems from worries from several European leaders that Trump may strong-arm Kyiv into accepting too many of Moscow’s terms.
According to Interfax, Putin stated, “Russia allows Europeans to return to negotiations if they take into account the realities on the ground.”
He added that European leaders stance is “absolutely unacceptable”, claiming the likes of Starmer and Macron are on “The side of war”.
Their view of Europe is something that was echoed by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
According to Turkish outlet TRT World, Peskov told the press: “We do not communicate with Europeans. We have no dialogue, not a single word. How can you determine the position of your colleagues on such a complex issue if you do not communicate with each other? This is our biggest problem.”
The European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius has called for European unity in the wake of Putin’s hostility.
Speaking to Euronews earlier today, the Lithuanian added: “We need perhaps to overcome some kind of our mental problems that usually we’re awaiting when some plans will come from Washington.
“It would be very good for us to have our own plan and then you know to compare with [the] American plan to see what is good, what we want to discuss.
“I think that we’re moving into that direction. Since really this approach that we need to be more independent both in our defence capabilities but also in our geopolitical standing is coming.”
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