There is a rising tendency in the world to underestimate the threat of nuclear war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned.
"This tendency is taking place and even growing," Putin told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.
Nuclear war "can lead to the death of all civilisation and possibly even the planet itself," he said.
The danger is "somehow being obscured, receding. It seems impossible or not so important," Putin said at his year-end press conference, for which a record 1700 journalists were accredited.
For decades the US and the Soviet Union faced off amid a continual threat of nuclear war, eventually curbed by two major deals restricting such weapons: the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The US has already scuttled the first treaty and now wants to withdraw from the second as relations with Russia have plummeted in recent years with the nations supporting opposing sides in conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
"We are currently observing the collapse of the international system for containing weapons," Putin said.
"It's rather difficult to imagine how the situation will develop" as the US exits from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Putin said. "If such missiles appear in Europe, what should we do? We'll need to ensure our security."
The US withdrawal is based on the allegation that Russia developed a land-based missile in violation of the treaty. Russia claims the missile has not been tested within the banned range.
If the US withdraws, "let them complain about us achieving some kind of advantage," Putin said. "We're not achieving an advantage. We're maintaining balance, ensuring our security."
Russia has previously accused the US of violating the treaty by installing a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
