Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the US and its European allies on Wednesday, saying he could place conventional missiles within striking distance if they refused to prevent Ukraine from using long-range Western weapons to attack deeper into Russia.
Putin claimed that the West was mistaken in its assumption that Russia would never employ nuclear weapons and that the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly during a meeting with senior editors of international news agencies.
Putin clarified that there were different types of missiles, but he warned that enabling Kyiv to attack Russia with increasingly powerful weapons was a major escalation that was leading the West towards a conflict with Russia in response to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s demands.
“If we observe that these nations are involved in a conflict with the Russian Federation, we reserve the right to respond in a similar manner.” Putin stated, “In general, this is a route to extremely severe problems.”
Putin did not specify the location to which he was considering delivering the missiles.
President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to launch U.S. weapons at Russian military targets. Washington still bans Kyiv from using ATACMS and other long-range U.S. weapons to attack Russia.
On May 3, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Kyiv that Ukraine had a right to use British weapons to strike targets inside Russia, but Kyiv could choose to do so.
