Putin: U.S., NATO have declared war against Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared the West’s response to the “invasion” of Ukraine by implementing anti-Russia sanctions was “akin to a declaration of war”.

“A lot of what is happening, from what we are now seeing and what we are facing, is certainly a way to fight against Russia”, Putin said, according to a report by Sputnik.

Putin noted that despite the flurry of sanctions by the U.S. and NATO countries, no martial law or a state of emergency will be introduced in Russia.

He added that martial law can only be introduced in the event of an extraordinary external threat, none of which has materialised so far.

The president revealed, however, that Russian deterrence forces were put on high alert after the UK foreign secretary said that NATO was “involved” in the Ukraine conflict.

The president stressed that the implementation of a no-fly zone above Ukraine by any country will be viewed by Russia as participation in the conflict.

The US and other NATO countries have repeatedly rejected requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to introduce such a zone, as it would likely provoke a war between the bloc and Russia.

The invasion, which Putin calls a special operation was launched by Putin on 24 February.

He said goals were to “demilitarise” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

He said that Russia was left with no other option but to act after Kiev failed to implement the Minsk agreements over the course of eight years and systematically tried to scrap them.