The Russian president on Wednesday once again criticized the Western countries’ deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine – and says that Moscow could supply similar weapons to other countries to attack Western targets.
If someone believes that it is possible to deliver such weapons to a war zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the right to donate our weapons, Vladimir Putin said at a press conference during St. Petersburg’s annual economic forum , Spief.
Dangerous step
Germany, like the US, has decided to allow Ukraine to use donated weapons to strike a number of military targets in Russia. It concerns targets participating in strikes against Russian forces attacking Ukraine, the decision would help defend Kharkiv.
Putin calls Germany’s decision a “dangerous step”.
If they now use robots to attack facilities on Russian territory, it will completely destroy Russian-German relations, he said.
Asked if Russia could resort to nuclear weapons, Putin said the conditions for using them are clearly set out in Moscow’s security doctrine.
For some reason, they in the West believe that Russia will never use it, Putin says, pointing to what he says is in the doctrine.
If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible to use all the means at our disposal.
Biden or Trump?
At the same time, Putin says that Russia has no intentions of attacking NATO countries.
There is no need to look for any imperialist ambitions on our part. There are none, he says.
Despite the recent authorization by the US government for Ukraine to strike Russian targets, Putin states that relations between the countries will not be affected by who becomes the new president. In February, however, he stated that he preferred Donald Trump as the election winner.
I am completely sincere. We do not believe that anything decisive would change, he says.
We will work with whoever the American people choose.
Want to build relations with Taliban
Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the country planned to remove the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations. At the press conference, Putin said that Russia should approach the government in Afghanistan.
We have always believed that we must deal with reality.
The Taliban are in power in Afghanistan. We need to build relations with the Taliban government, Vladimir Putin said.
Invited to the meeting with Putin were a handful of major news agencies, among them several from Western countries.