Putin: All weapons ‘on the agenda’ for Kaliningrad
Putin said the warning was a response to Western talk of a Russian attack on Europe by 2029 or 2030, not a threat of Moscow’s own making.
Russia would put “all weapons” in its arsenal “on the agenda” if its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad came under direct attack, Vladimir Putin has told the Valdai Discussion Club forum in Moscow.
Putin told the forum on 1 October that any direct attack on Russia would immediately put the use of “all weapons at the disposal of our country” “on the agenda”.
Putin specified that the warning applied “in this case we mean Kaliningrad, or maybe some other territories”.
Kaliningrad is a heavily militarised Russian exclave on the Baltic coast, sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and slightly larger than the US state of Connecticut.
The exclave is also home to the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Fleet and to Iskander missile systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The Russian president said “no one else possesses the kind of weapons that Russia has today”, calling the arsenal “our competitive advantage”.
Putin cast the warning as a reply to Western officials who have raised the possibility of a Russian attack on Europe, saying Moscow had no such plan “neither in 2029, nor in 2030, nor in 2050”.
The remarks follow a Russian diplomatic note sent to NATO member states in late September, which said Moscow was ready to use its full arsenal, including nuclear weapons, if the alliance tried to isolate Kaliningrad by air or sea.
Russia has pointed to recent NATO exercises near Kaliningrad, including a drill in August that involved an American aircraft capable of jamming communications, as evidence for its claim that the alliance is preparing a blockade.
NATO has denied planning any blockade of the exclave.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was “a defensive alliance” and that Russia’s nuclear rhetoric was “not helpful”.
Putin also told the forum that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries had cut the country’s gross domestic product by about 1%.