PUTIN WARNS THE WEST AGAINST SENDING TROOPS TO UKRAINE IN A MAJOR SPEECH

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

1. Putin warned that any deployment of Western troops in Ukraine would have "tragic" consequences
2. He claimed Western rhetoric threatened a "conflict with the use of nuclear arms and consequently the destruction of civilisation".
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4. The comments appear to respond to French President Macron, who earlier this week did not rule out sending Western soldiers to Ukraine
5. Putin 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
6. Ukrainian troops recently withdrew from the eastern town of Avdiivka - but overall, the frontlines have been largely unchanged for months.

7. The man who Putin did not name

   

   ReutersCopyright: Reuters

   Alexei Navalny was one of Putin's most outspoken criticsImage caption: Alexei Navalny was one of Putin's most outspoken critics

   Putin was speaking for about two hours, covering a range of key issues.

   But there was one name he refused to mention - Alexei Navalny - Putin's most prominent critic.

   Navalny's death in a Russian Arctic penal colony earlier this month sparked a global outpouring of tributes and anti-Putin demonstrations, with his supporters convinced his death was a political assassination.

   Hundreds of people were detained in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities for laying flowers in his memory.

   Navalny will be buried in Moscow on Friday. He was seen as a threat by the Kremlin for his ability to bring large numbers of protesters to the streets to rail against the government.

   In 2017, he was barred from standing in the general election and his organisations were banned by the Russian state.

   In 2020, Navalny collapsed on a flight over Siberia. He was rushed for treatment in Germany where tests proved he had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

   The Kremlin denied any involvement, although Putin admitted that the state was keeping Navalny under surveillance.

   Navalny returned to Moscow in 2021. He was immediately detained.

   He died under circumstances yet to be fully established, but his widow Yulia Navalnaya insists that Putin is responsible.

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8. FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-68431017

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