Threats to NATOmessages to the West, predictions about the war and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin speaks in an interview to some international agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg economic forum, with the spotlight on the conflict triggered by the invasion ordered by the Kremlin in February 2022. The Russian president pays particular attention to the current situation, characterized by the green light from Western countries to Kiev, which can strike military targets in Russia using weapons supplied by partners.
Russian weapons to hit NATO countries? “We’ll think about it”
Between one response and another, Putin labels the claims relating to Russia’s attacks on NATO countries as ”nonsense” and relies on the concept of defence. If the West supplies long-range missiles to Ukraine to strike Russia, Russia could supply weapons of the same type to strike NATO countries is Putin’s threat.
“If they believe it is possible to deliver weapons to the combat zone to launch attacks on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world to be used to launch attacks on sensitive structures of countries that do so randomly Russia? Will we think about it,” he says. In the West, is the Russian president identified as a villain? No problem. “Let them be afraid…”.
“Stop US weapons in Kiev and the war ends”
Sending Western weapons represents “a very dangerous step”, says Putin. “Delivering weapons into a war zone is always bad. Even more so if those who are sending the weapons not only deliver them but also control them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step,” says the Kremlin leader, who calls it “a shock” to see German tanks in Ukraine. US must stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and conflict will end within 2-3 months, says Putin: “What needs to be done to stop the fighting in Ukraine? I can tell you what I once told Mr. Biden… If you want to stop hostilities in Ukraine, stop supplying weapons. And these actions will stop within two, maximum three months.”
If Moscow saw other countries involved in a war against Russia, it would reserve the right to act similarly, says the Russian president. “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.”
Western instructors are already present on the territory of Ukraine and “suffer losses”, but the West prefers to keep everything quiet, he continues. “From the point of view of the presence of advisors and instructors, there is nothing new here: they are present on the territory of Ukraine and, unfortunately for them, suffer losses, I know for sure,” but “in European countries and the United States they prefer to keep everything quiet.”
For the Russian president, no one in the West wants to remember that the war in Ukraine began with a coup, for which Russia is not responsible. “Everyone believes that Russia started the war in Ukraine – he says – But no one, I want to underline this, no one in the West, in Europe, wants to remember how this tragedy began, with a coup in Ukraine: this is the beginning of the war. Is Russia responsible for this coup? No”.
“Ukraine loses 50 thousand men a month, we lose many less”
In the war that has been going on for over 2 years, Kiev loses “50 thousand soldiers a month”, while Russia’s losses in the war in Ukraine are “several times lower”, says Putin, who provides unverifiable figures. According to the Russian president, Ukraine currently holds 1,348 prisoners. In Russia, however, there would be 6,465 Ukrainian prisoners.
Among the various themes, spotlight on the United States. Washington, says Putin, supports Kiev because it wants to hinder Russia’s growth: the US “is interested in their leadership, not in Ukraine”.
“USA will replace Zelensky”
And for this reason they will archive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he is no longer functional, says Putin: it will happen “in spring 2025”, he says, maintaining that there would also be candidates for succession. “I think the American administration will force the leadership of Ukraine to make this decision, lower the age for mobilization to 18, and then get rid of Zelensky… To do all this, it seems to me, will take a year.”
The United States, he continues, are destroying themselves with their own hands during the ongoing internal political conflict. “Their state, their political system, is being destroyed from within, they are even setting their leadership on fire,” she claims. The American justice system, says the Russian president, is being used for internal political conflict “in the case of Donald Trump”.
After the November elections, regardless of the result, there will be no changes in terms of relations on the Washington-Moscow axis: “We think that nothing really serious will happen.”
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