President Vladimir Putin of Russia has threatened to Arm Countries That Could Hit Western Targets.
“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 weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those [Western] countries,” Putin said.
Putin made the comment at a rare press conference with foreign news outlets.
“That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it,” he told reporters.
“Delivering arms to a warzone is always bad. Even more so if those who are delivering are not just delivering weapons but also controlling them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step,” Putin said.
Sitting opposite representatives from news outlets, Putin repeated that his country “did not start the war against Ukraine,” instead blaming a pro-Western revolution in 2014.
“Everyone thinks that Russia started the war in Ukraine. I would like to emphasize that nobody in the West, in Europe, wants to remember how this tragedy started,” Putin said.
Russia possesses a total of 5,580 nuclear warheads as of 2024, the largest confirmed stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world.
Russia’s deployed missiles (those actually ready to be launched) number about 1,710, also the largest confirmed strategically deployed arsenal in the world as of 2024.
