Putin says coming decade will be ‘most dangerous’ since end of World War II

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The coming decade will be the “most dangerous” for the world since the end of World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted Thursday.

Russia has continued to escalate its invasion of Ukraine, and Putin as also ramped up his nuclear rhetoric, leading to fears that he could deploy a tactical nuclear weapon. Putin stated at an annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club that the current global situation is “to a certain extent revolutionary,” according to the Agence France-Presse.

“Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of the Second World War,” Putin said.

Putin’s statement comes less than a day after his military completed several intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests on Wednesday. Russia tested ground-launched, air-launched and submarine-launched missiles in the “Grom” exercise. Each of the missiles was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

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Russian officials have also accused Ukraine of planning to use a “dirty bomb” within its own borders, an assertion that Ukraine and Western allies dismissed as an excuse for Putin to further escalate the conflict.

A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device that has been combined with radioactive material to taint its landing area.

“We will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kyiv regime as an act of nuclear terrorism,” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reportedly told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council in a letter.

The U.S., France and the U.K. released a statement rejecting the accusations soon afterward, calling them “transparently false.”

“The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation,” the three countries wrote in a joint statement. “We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia.”

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that Russia’s Wednesday missile tests were routine and had been long-scheduled but condemned Russia’s rhetoric as “reckless.”

“As we’ve highlighted before, this is a routine annual exercise by Russia,” Ryder said. “In this regard, Russia is complying with its arms control obligations, its transparency, commitments to notifications.