PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the US and its European partners if they allowed Kyiv to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons.
The Russian President in his first face-to-face meeting with senior editors of world news agencies since the war in Ukraine started, said the West was wrong to assume Moscow would never use nuclear weapons, and said Moscow’s nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly.
When asked regarding NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s calls to allow Kyiv to use Western weapons to strike Russia, President Putin differentiated between different missiles but warned permitting Ukraine to strike Russia with ever more powerful weapons was a serious escalation that was drawing the West towards a war with Moscow.
Kremlin chief said that they would shoot down the Western missiles, and specifically mentioned US ATACMS, and French and British missile systems.
Putin said Russian was considering deploying similar high-technology, long-range missiles close enough to strike the countries that allowed Kyiv to strike Russia with such missiles.
“If we see that these states are being drawn into a conflict against the Russia, then we reserve the right to act in the same way. In general, this is a path to very serious problems,” the Russian President said. However, he did not give specifics details of where he was considering delivering such missiles.
Earlier, President Joe Biden authorized Kyiv to launch some U.S. weapons at military targets inside Russia.
