Vladimir Putin: Russia can use nuclear weapons if threatened

2024-06-06 09:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia may use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty is threatened.

"If someone's actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible to use all the means at our disposal," President Putin said, citing what he said was his country's security policy.

"For some reason, they in the West believe that Russia will never use them," President Putin told a group of international journalists, adding that Russia's nuclear arsenal is far more powerful than the one the United States used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, during World War II.

The Russian leader spoke for more than three hours with journalists from international news agencies, during the proceedings of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

President Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets if NATO allies allow Ukraine to use their weapons to attack Russian territory.

"If they consider it possible to send such weapons to the war zone to launch attacks on our territory and create problems for us, why do we not have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world, where they can be used to launch attacks on sensitive targets of countries that do this to Russia?,” he said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Germany joined the United States last week in authorizing Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil along the Kharkiv regional border, using long-range weapons donated by it. The Russian president mentioned American ATACMS systems, as well as British and French missiles.

German tanks arriving in Ukraine surprised many in Russia, according to President Putin, who said that "when German tanks first appeared on Ukrainian soil, it caused such a moral and ethical shock in Russia, because relations with ( Germany) in Russian society, have always been very good".

Asked about the upcoming US elections, the Russian leader said he is not worried about the results.

"To say, I'm speaking very honestly, that we believe that after the elections something will change towards Russia in American politics, I don't believe it. We don't think so. We think that nothing serious will happen", said President Putin./ VOA