In Retaliation for Ukraine Using NATO Long-Range Missiles To Strike Russian Territory, Putin Says He May Supply Weapons to Regions That Can Attack Western Countries’ Targets
During the 2024 Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin has gathered foreign journalists – including from ‘unfriendly countries’ – for a long conversations about many topics, including, of course, the new ‘authorizations’ by western powers for Ukraine to strike Russian territory with their supplied long-range missiles.
Putin warned that Moscow could arm countries near those Western powers that could potentially attack targets in their territories.
Several countries, including France, UK, Germany, and the United States, have given Ukraine the green light to utilize these missiles to strike targets inside Russia.
BBC reported:
“‘If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those countries?’ the Russian president said. ‘That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it’.”
Putin did not specify which countries Moscow could supply weapons to, but one of the potential targets that he mentioned was Germany.
“‘When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations’, Mr. Putin said.”
US President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only near the Kharkov region.
Sources have confirmed that Ukraine has already used US weapons to strike inside Russia in recent days.
Putin also gave a worrying warning that ‘the West was wrong to assume that Moscow would never use nuclear weapons’.
“‘For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use it’, Mr. Putin said when asked by Reuters about the risk of nuclear escalation over Ukraine.
‘We have a nuclear doctrine, look what it says. If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible for us to use all means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially’.”
Russia has no plans to attack NATO territory, he insisted. He said Western countries should not make Russia out to be the enemy, because ‘they are only hurting themselves with this’.
“They thought that Russia wanted to attack Nato. Have you gone completely crazy? That is as thick as this table. Who came up with this? It is just complete nonsense, you know? Total rubbish.”
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