Putin threatens asymmetric retaliation against Western countries supplying arms to Ukraine
During a meeting with media representatives in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia might deploy its long-range weaponry to regions around the globe to target "sensitive" sites in nations supplying arms to Ukraine, reports TASS.
For the first time, Putin clearly stated how Moscow would respond to strikes on Russian territory by Western long-range weapons. He mentioned that Russia's response would be to the deployment of Western systems such as ATACAMS and Storm Shadow.
The Russian president emphasized that Russia plans to enhance its air defense systems due to the threat posed by long-range weapons from Ukrainian territory. Nonetheless, he added that Russia is considering an "asymmetric" response to such strikes and the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine.
"We are contemplating that if someone deems it possible to supply such weapons to the conflict zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, then why shouldn't we have the right to supply weapons to regions where sensitive strikes could be made on the assets of those countries doing this to Russia? In other words, the response could be asymmetric; we will give it some thought," he said.
Putin also speculated that if the U.S. were to halt its arms supplies to Ukraine, the conflict would end in "two to three months." He recalled the presence of Western instructors in Ukraine, who, according to him, "are suffering losses."