Putin Warns The West Is At ‘The Point Of No Return’ & Impending ‘Tragedy’ Amid Escalating Tensions

In a scathing address to foreign ministry officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning to the West, denouncing its “selfishness and hypocrisy” and cautioning that the current course of events has brought the world “close to a point of no return.”

Putin condemned the calls by Western politicians to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, which he described as “the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.” He warned that such recklessness either demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the scale of the threat or a dangerous obsession with a sense of impunity, both of which, he cautioned, “can lead to tragedy.”

Addressing the Western plans to provide Ukraine with loans using interest from frozen Russian assets, Putin labeled the move as outright “theft” and vowed that it would not go unpunished. He emphasized that this action has made it clear to all countries, companies and sovereign funds that their assets and reserves are no longer legally and economically safe under the dominance of the United States and its Western allies.

Putin’s remarks come a day after the G7 leaders agreed on an outline deal to provide $50 billion in loans to Ukraine, using the interest from Russian sovereign assets. The Russian president dismissed this as a blatant disregard for international law and a precursor of potential future expropriations by the U.S. and the West, cautioning that “anyone could be next in line.”

Regarding the prospects of peace negotiations, Putin set forth a clear set of prerequisites and stated that Ukrainian forces must be withdrawn entirely from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts (provinces) within their administrative borders as they existed upon their accession to Ukraine. He emphasized that as soon as Kyiv declares its readiness for such a decision and initiates the actual withdrawal of its forces, Russia will immediately order a ceasefire and commence negotiations.

Amid the escalating tensions, Putin asserted that the “Western model” of global security is collapsing and “needs to be essentially created anew.” He expressed openness to discussions with all interested parties, including NATO, to develop new security arrangements for Eurasia, acknowledging that despite the current conflicts, the geographical realities of the continent mean that “we will have to coexist and work together one way or another.”

Putin’s Siberian estate recently mysteriously went up in flames, leading many to believe it was an act of sabotage.