Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine are a "very dangerous measure" as some countries - including the US - recently allowed Kiev to hit Russian soil with them under conditions.
“Supplying weapons to a conflict zone is always a bad thing. Mainly if it is connected to the fact that the suppliers are not limited to supplying weapons but also controlling them. This is a very serious and very dangerous measure," Putin said during a meeting with news agencies, including AFP, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg economic forum.
The Russian president specifically named Germany, stating that "when the first German tanks appeared on Ukrainian soil, it caused a moral and emotional shock in Russia" because of the past associated with World War II.
"Today, when they (including the German authorities) say that there will be other missiles that will hit targets on Russian soil, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations," he added.
Several countries, including the United States and Germany, have given their approval in recent weeks for Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike targets on Russian soil in response to Moscow's attack on the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine.
Putin reiterated that his country was not the one that "started the war in Ukraine", blaming Kiev for the revolution that brought pro-Westerners to power in 2014, followed by Moscow's annexation of Crimea and a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine under Russian rule.
"Everyone believes that Russia started the war in Ukraine. I would like to emphasize that no one in the West, in Europe, wants to remember how this tragedy began," Putin said.
President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would consider retaliating in kind to Western countries that allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with their long-range missiles, and threatened to hand weapons to third countries to strike Western interests.
Asked about the risk of nuclear war due to developments in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Moscow could use all the means at its disposal to defend itself in the event of threats to national sovereignty and territorial integrity. territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.
The Kremlin strongman said the West has repeatedly accused Russia of raising the threat of using nuclear weapons, but stressed that this was wrong. He recalled that it was the US that used nuclear weapons against Japan in World War II.
In a press conference he gave to foreign news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg economic forum, Putin pointed out that Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for the use of such weapons to counter threats.
"For some reason, the West thinks that Russia will never use them," Putin said. "We have nuclear doctrine, here's what it provides. If someone's actions threaten our national sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible to use all means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially," insisted the Russian president.
Source: skai.gr
