Crypto-currency market plunges as Vladimir Putin says “risk of nuclear war is increasing”

During a televised meeting of the Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a full update on the war in public. The president says the risk of nuclear war is rising, and insists that Russia is not “gone mad“, but that it considers its own nuclear arsenal as a purely defensive measure.

Putin added that the U.S. had placed the so-called “nuclear weapons”tactical“in other nations, not in Russia – and that he would protect his territory and his allies”by all possible measures.“

This was a reference to the idea that many of the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons are hosted by NATO defense allies in Europe, including those extending as far east as Turkey.

Putin at the meeting with Human Rights council of Russia: the threat of nuclear war is increasing, but Russia will not use the nuclear weapons first, however it will not use the nuclear weapons second, because it will not be possible after nuclear strike at Russia pic.twitter.com/IrgLe9EWiM

– Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) December 7, 2022

“Yes, we will do this by various ways and means. First of all, of course, we will concentrate on peaceful means, but if there is nothing else left, we will defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal“, said Putin.

During the session, Vladimir Putin also said:

Our nuclear forces are in a more advanced state than any other country in the world.

During the current session of the Human Rights Council, Vladimir Putin, along with other senior officials, tried to put an end to persistent rumors of a second military mobilization throughout society in 2023. After calling up the previous 300,000 reservists for operations in Ukraine, he said there was no need to call up more.

He stressed the importance of carrying out the operation to its conclusion in order to achieve the goals he had previously stated publicly:”Russia could be the only guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But this depends on the new leadership of Ukraine“, Vladimir Putin noted.

Following this news, the crypto-currency market fell slightly, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum losing just over 0.1% in the last 30 minutes at the time of writing.

This story is under development and is frequently updated.