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By Alice Scarsi, News Reporter

Vladimir Putin said Russia is 'ready' should it need to deploy nuclear weapons (Image: GETTY)

Vladimir Putin sent a fresh chilling threat to the West on Wednesday, when he claimed Russia is "ready" for a nuclear escalation.

Speaking to Russian state media just days before his country's presidential elections, Putin said the Kremlin is ready to respond to threats with nuclear weapons.

He said: "From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready." As he warned multiple times in the past, the Russian president said nukes could be deployed in case of a threat to "the existence of the Russian state, our sovereignty and independence".

Putin went on to say that another red line would be the deployment of US troops on the Ukrainian battlefield - a scenario Washington has ruled out in the past.

The Russian leader added: "(In the United States) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint.

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"Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this."

Still, he stressed, Russia has its nuclear doctrine and weapons "exist in order to use them".

When it comes to Putin waging nuclear threats, the Western world has been on alert since late February 2022, when he announced he had ordered his country's nuclear forces to move to the heightened alert status of a "special regime of combat duty".

Vladimir Putin delivered his State of the Nation speech last month (Image: GETTY)

Speaking days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said: "Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly economic actions against our country, but leaders of major NATO countries are making aggressive statements about our country."

Nuclear threats have since been repeated by either Putin or his close allies and propagandists.

In his State of the Nation speech at the end of February, the Russian leader seemingly responded to French President Emmanuel Macron's refusal to rule out sending NATO troops to Ukraine, as he said: "They must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory."

If NATO forces were ever deployed to fight alongside Kyiv's troops, there would be "tragic consequences", he added.

While raising fears of a nuclear conflict multiple times, Putin and the Kremlin have also at times played down the risks of a similar catastrophic conflict actually happening.

In September 2022, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: "We are not threatening anyone with nuclear weapons. The criteria for their use are outlined in Russia’s military doctrine."