Putin Warns Moscow Could Act The Same Way After West Let Ukraine Strike Inside Russia

By Staff, Agencies

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could supply arms to other countries to hit Western targets after the West allowed Ukraine to strike inside the Russian Federation.

The Russian leader on Wednesday lambasted the decision made by the West to allow Ukraine to fire donated long-range missiles toward targets inside Russia, warning Moscow in retaliation could arm the West’s enemies with similar weapons to do the same.

“If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a warzone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply our weapons,” Putin said at a press conference with editors from international news agencies on the sidelines of the annual economic forum in St. Petersburg.

Why Russia would “not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on the sensitive facilities of those countries that are doing this against Russia?” the Russian president asked.

Putin also denounced the recent green light given by the West to Kiev as a “very serious and dangerous step.”

He stressed that “supplying weapons to a conflict zone is always a bad thing, especially if this is linked to the fact that those who supply them are not only delivering weapons but managing them.”

Late last month, US President Joe Biden gave Kiev permission to fire long-range missiles supplied by the Americans to strike targets inside Russia. Germany quickly followed suite, granting Kiev the green light to use German-supplied long-range missiles against Russian targets.

Britain and France have already signaled that they were okay with Ukraine striking targets inside Russia.

“In the end, if we see that these countries become involved in a war against us, what they are doing makes them directly involved in a war against the Russian Federation, we reserve the right to act the same way,” Put further said on Wednesday, warning, “Overall, it leads to some serious problems.”

Last month, a Ukrainian intelligence source revealed Kiev forces had targeted a long-range radar site deep inside Russia that was part of Russia's early-warning system to detect whether it is under nuclear attack.

In February 2022, Moscow launched its special military operation in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region to stop NATO’s eastward expansion after warning that the US-led military alliance was pursuing an “aggressive line” against Russia.

The West responded with imposing waves of harsh sanctions against Russia and pouring advanced arms and military hardware into Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned that a continued supply of Western arms and military equipment for the Ukrainian military would only prolong the war.