Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the deployment of additional troops and weapons systems on the country’s northwestern border with Finland, a new NATO member.

He also warned that Moscow is technically ready for nuclear war.

Mr Putin disclosed this during an interview on Russian state television broadcast late Tuesday evening.

Mr Putin said that joining NATO was a senseless step that did not correspond with Finland’s national interests.

Mr Putin said that Russian-Finnish relations had been ideal before this decision in Helsinki.

Finland and Sweden applied for membership in the Western military alliance in the wake of the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine over two years ago.

Both countries are now members.

Mr Putin criticised the move as purely political and said it had contributed to the deterioration of bilateral relations.

Joining NATO did not contribute to improving security.

“We had no troops there (along the shared border); now there will be. There were no weapons systems; now there will be,’’ the Russian leader said.

During the interview, Mr Putin also accused the U.S. of planning to resume nuclear weapons tests and threatened to take counter-measures.

In such a case, Russia would also consider launching new nuclear weapons tests, the Russian president said, noting that from a technical point of view, Moscow is prepared to use this weapon of mass destruction.

However, according to Moscow’s defence doctrine, this would only happen “if the existence of the Russian state and damage to our sovereignty and independence were at stake.”

An international nuclear test ban treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996.

The U.S. did not ratify it.

Russia subsequently withdrew its ratification at the end of 2023.

However, neither country has conducted nuclear weapons tests since the 1990s.

(dpa/NAN)