I think ol' Vlad had better be careful with his words...

President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.

...

"These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that," Putin said, speaking to a group of flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow.

He said any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict. Such a step he said would have catastrophic consequences for Europe and the world.

You just don't throw around the phrase "declaration of war" like that. Too dang easy to be interpreted as Russia wanting war with the West – or even worse, that Putin is already operating under "declaration of war" rules regarding Western countries. Very dangerous to say that in this situation.

Putin is a hostile little tyrant. He's flirting with disaster here.

In the immortal words of that one Xerxes messenger in "300" right before Leonidas kicked him down the well: "Choose your next words carefully ... they may be your last as king."

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