Vladimir Putin has claimed Russia could retaliate in kind against those permitting Ukraine to target Russia with their long-range missiles – by providing such weapons to countries within striking distance of Western nations.
In wide-ranging remarks at his annual economic forum in St Petersburg, the Russian president sought to insist that Moscow “does not care” about the upcoming US election, claimed candidate Donald Trump’s hush money conviction was “political”, and dismissed fears that Russia wants to attack Nato as “nonsense”.
But he warned that the United States and Germany’s recent authorisation for Ukraine to use their weapons to hit specific Russian targets close to Kharkiv could lead to “very serious problems”, calling Berlin’s decision a “very dangerous step”.
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“That would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way,” Mr Putin told a three-hour meeting with the senior editors of international news agencies.
Because using such Western weapons involves military personnel of those countries controlling the missiles and selecting targets, Mr Putin claimed Moscow could take “asymmetrical” steps elsewhere in the world.
“If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia?” he said.
“We will think about it,” Mr Putin added.
The shift in policy to allow Ukraine to strike military targets near the Russian border emerged last week, and came after Russia launched a new offensive on Kharkiv earlier in May. In April it was reported that US long-range ballistic missiles had already been used to strike targets deep within Russian territory.
Despite his remarks on Wednesday, Mr Putin angrily insisted it was “absolute nonsense” to suggest Russia wanted to attack Nato, telling a journalist: “Don’t form an image of Russia as an enemy. You are only hurting yourselves with this, do you understand? You have made up that Russia wants to attack Nato. Have you completely lost your mind? Are you as thick as this table?”
And he insisted that Russia “does not care” who wins the upcoming US election – claiming that Moscow believes “nothing serious” will change in Washington’s policy towards Russia regardless of whether either Joe Biden or Donald Trump is re-elected.
But he conceded it was “hard to say” whether a second Trump presidency could change the situation in Ukraine, adding: “I can’t make a definite conclusion as to whether something will change or not. One has to look at the priorities of the future administration.
“No one in the United States is interested in Ukraine, they are interested in the greatness of the United States, which is fighting not for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, but for its own greatness. But if the future administration will change its goal-setting vector … then something may change.”
Speaking as Alexei Navalny ally Ilya Yashin lost an appeal against his bogus designation as a “foreign agent”, the Russian president remarked on Mr Trump’s recent hush money conviction by claiming the US was “burning themselves from the inside, their state, their political system”.
He added: “It is obvious all over the world that the prosecution of Trump, especially in court on charges that were formed on the basis of events that happened years ago, without direct proof, is simply using the judicial system in an internal political struggle.”
Asked about Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich – one of many journalists to fall foul of Moscow’s brutal crackdown on information in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin said: “I know that the United States administration is indeed taking vigorous steps for his release.
“But such issues are not resolved through the media. They love a quiet, peaceful, professional approach and dialogue between intelligence agencies. Of course, they should only be resolved on the basis of reciprocity. The relevant US and Russian agencies are in contact with each other on this issue.”