President Vladimir Putin said that no one in the world in their right mind would use nuclear weapons against Russia, and that potential enemies knew about Russia's nuclear arsenal.
He also claimed Russia is "trying to end" the war in Ukraine.
"There is permanently increasing military and political pressure [from the West]. We have to respond. I have said many times that it was not us who started the war in Ukraine. On the contrary, we are trying to end it."
In response to a question, Putin said he was not ready to declare whether or not Russia needed to resume nuclear weapons testing, saying that "theoretically we could revoke ratification" of the international nuclear test ban treaty.
In a keynote annual speech at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, he said Russia had almost completed work on its nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system and successfully tested the nuclear-powered nuclear-capable Burevestnik strategic cruise missile.
Europe is shutting off Russia with a new iron curtain, Putin claimed, saying Western sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine had hurt the European economy while the US and Asian economies had become more competitive.
"Everyone realises that in an international system where arbitrariness reigns ... anyone can be under attack simply for the reason that this or that country was not liked by the hegemon, who has lost his sense of proportion and, I would add, his sense of reality. Unfortunately, we have to admit that our counterparties in the West have lost their sense of reality.
"Adherence to bloc approaches, the desire to drive the world into a situation of constant confrontation between 'us' and 'them' is a vicious legacy of the 20th century. It is a product of Western political culture. The West always needs an enemy."
