June 6 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that he could provide weapons to opponents of the United States and Western allies to strike their countries on Wednesday.
Putin made the comments in response to Western allies allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike inside Russia, something many of those nations, including the United States, had banned at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
“If someone considers it possible to supply such weapons to a combat zone to strike our territory and create problems for us, then why do we not have the same right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world from which the strikes will be carried out on sensitive objects of those countries that do this in relation to Russia,” Putin said at the St. Peterburg International Economic Forum.
“That is, the answer may be symmetrical. We will think about it.”
U.S. President Biden last week gave Ukraine the green light to use its hardware to strike within Russia with the limitation that the weapons are used for defensive purposes and Kyiv could not use its long-range missiles.
The Institute for the Study of War said on Tuesday that a Ukrainian strike on the Russian S-300/400 battery north of Belgorod city was “likely” carried out using a U.S. High Mobility Rocket System, or HIMARS.
In Wednesday’s speech, Putin singled out Germany, which joined the United States in permitting Ukraine to strike Russia using its long-range weapons.
“When they say that there will be more missiles [that] will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitely destroys Russian-German relations,” Putin said.
Putin on Wednesday also warned that Russia can use “all means at our disposal” when asked about the potential for triggering a nuclear war.
“For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use it,” he said. “You can’t take this lightly, superficially.”
Russia started a new offensive in the spring to allow it to win territory around the key Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border. It is Russia’s second shot at attacking Kharkiv after failing to capture the city at the dawn of its invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said it needed the ability to use Western weapons across the Russian border to defend Kharkiv.
