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SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia.- In a unusual meeting with foreign press agenciesPresident Vladimir Putin He said this Wednesday that his country’s decision to resort to atomic weapons is sometimes underestimated. “For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use its nuclear weapons,” he said. the president, who warned that he is willing to press the red button if the conditions were met.
“We have a nuclear doctrineLook what he says. If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, We consider that we can use all the means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially,” she added.
In this, which was his first press conference with foreign media since 2021Putin once again insisted on the Kremlin’s rhetoric of recent weeks and warned that the Ukrainian attacks with Western weapons against Russian territory would mean “a war” against Russia and “the road to very serious problems.” His statements come a day after Ukraine admitted the first attacks on Russian soil with American-made weapons.
”If we see that these countries are being dragged into a war against us, and this is their direct participation in the war against the Russian Federation, then we reserve the right to act similarly“said the president.
Likewise, it left the door open to a symmetrical response to the shipment of weapons to Ukraine to attack Russia, thus slipping the possibility that Moscow would also deliver military material to other countries to carry out “attacks against sensitive targets” of kyiv’s partners.
”If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons to a combat zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, then “Why don’t we have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where attacks will be carried out against sensitive targets of those countries that do this against Russia?”he asked himself.
Over the last few weeks, the debate on the possibility of major Western powers granting permission to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack military positions on Russian territory from which Moscow carries out attacks against Ukraine, especially in the border region of Kharkov.
While some countries have already given their approval to this possibility, other States are reticent about the possibility that Moscow will interpret this as an aggression against its sovereignty and decide to respond, thus initiating an escalation of tensions within the framework of the war in Ukraine. .
In fact, Putin has indicated that one of the first steps that the Russian authorities must take in this context is to “improve air defense systems” to be able to “destroy” long-range missiles supplied by the West that Ukraine can launch on Russian territory.
In any case, the Russian president clarified that It has no “imperial ambitions” and does not plan to attack NATO. ”Do not look for what does not exist […]. Do not seek our imperial ambitions. They do not exist”, he declared. The president also described The accusations that Moscow intends to attack the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance are “nonsense.”
In the dialogue with foreign journalists, Putin took time to also address other issues on the international agenda, from the War in the Middle East to the elections in the United States.
“What is currently happening in Gaza in response to the terrorist attack against Israel is nothing like a war. It is a kind of total annihilation of the civilian population”he declared.
Regarding the elections in the United States on November 5, he said that Russia did not care who the next president of that country was, since this would probably not change anything for Moscow. But he claimed that the American judicial system was clearly being used in a political battle against donald trump.
“We don’t think the final result matters much. We will work with whatever president the American people elect,” he said.
“We have never had any special connection with Mr. Trump, but the fact is that as president he began to impose massive sanctions on Russia, withdrew from treaty on intermediate and shorter range missiles”Putin added.
Still, he said it was clear that the US judicial system had been exploited by Trump’s political rivals to try to damage his electoral chances, a strategy that Putin said did not appear to be working. “They are burning from within, their State, their political system […]. It is obvious around the world that the persecution of Trump, especially in the courts for charges based on events that occurred years ago, without direct evidence, is simply using the judicial system in an internal political struggle”.
Agencies Reuters, AFP and AP
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