Russia’s Putin Threatens West With Long-Range Missiles, Nuclear Weapons (Worthy News In-Depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Russia could deploy nuclear bombs and provide long-range weapons to others against Western targets after Ukraine used for the first time U.S. arms to hit sides inside Russia.
He said recent actions by the West would further undermine international security and could lead to “severe problems.”
Putin referred to the United States and Germany recently authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv.
On Wednesday, a Western official confirmed that Ukraine used American weapons in recent days under recently approved guidance from U.S. President Joe Biden.
The approval allows American arms to be used to hit inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where dozens have been killed in Russian strikes over the last weeks.
Kharkiv, which sits just 20km (12 miles) from the Russian border, has now come under further intensified Russian attacks.
A witness in Kharkiv told Worthy News that “the windows were shaken” in recent days by Russian attacks and that “it was a terrible morning” for her and her baby.
Besides the U.S., Germany also authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv.
DIRECT INVOLVEMENT
However, Putin warned that “would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way.”
According to a 3 June report from the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian forces struck a Russian S-300/400 air defense battery in Russia’s Belgorod region, probably with a high mobility artillery rocket system, or Himars, on June 1 or 2.
The air defense system was located roughly 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the current frontline in the northern Kharkiv region and more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the city of Kharkiv, which is within the range of Himars, experts said.
Putin claimed that using some Western-supplied weapons involves military personnel of those countries controlling the missiles and selecting targets.
Worthy News had already reported that NATO military alliance forces are in Ukraine.
Putin said Moscow could take, therefore, “asymmetrical” steps elsewhere in the world. The U.S. military said it does not control the missiles it provides to Ukraine or the targets.
His latest remarks reaffirmed that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had led to the worst breakdown in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis – and the Kremlin has repeatedly warned that the risk of a global war is rising.
COMBAT ZONE
“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?” Putin wondered.
“We will think about it,” he told international journalists on the sidelines of the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Asked whether Russia could resort to using nuclear arms, Putin said the conditions for utilizing that arsenal are spelled out in Moscow’s security doctrine.
“For some reason, they believe in the West that Russia will never use it,” he said.
“Look at what is written there,” he said of Russia’s nuclear doctrine. “If somebody’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible to use all means at our disposal.”
Even Russia’s battlefield nuclear weapons are much more powerful than what the U.S. used against Japan in World War II, Putin warned.
Yet Putin acknowledged that Russia had suffered losses on the frontlines but claimed without providing evidence that Ukraine’s casualties are “five times greater” than Russia’s.
ESPIONAGE CHARGES
He also said Ukraine has more than 1,300 Russian troops in captivity, while more than 6,400 Ukrainian soldiers are being held in Russia. The claims could not be independently verified, and some Western estimates put Russia’s losses much higher than Ukraine’s.
Asked about the case of Wall Street Journal newspaper reporter Evan Gershkovich, Putin said the U.S. is “taking energetic steps” to secure his release.
Gershkovich was jailed over a year ago while on a reporting trip and charged with espionage. The journalist, his employer, and the U.S. have denied the allegations, and Washington has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
Putin said any such releases “aren’t decided via mass media” but through a “discreet, calm and professional approach.”
“And they certainly should be decided only based on reciprocity,” he added, an allusion to a potential prisoner swap.
Putin also said nothing would change regarding Russia-U.S. relations regardless of whether Biden or Donald J. Trump wins the American presidential election in November.
“We will work with any president the American people elect,” Putin said. “I say absolutely sincerely, I wouldn’t say that we believe that after the election, something will change on the Russian track in American politics,” he added. “We don’t think so. We think nothing that serious will happen.”
Trump maintains that war would have never happened with him in the White House. When elected, the former president also pledged to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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