Russia: Vladimir Putin gives annual state of the nation address | BBC World

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Vladimir Putin has given his annual state of the nation address, two weeks before Russia's 2024 presidential election.

Putin warned that any deployment of Western troops in Ukraine would have "tragic" consequences, claiming that Western rhetoric threatened a "conflict with the use of nuclear arms and consequently the destruction of civilisation".

He also said the Russian military has the "initiative" in the two-year, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and is advancing in a number of areas.