Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Western countries are pressing Russia to the limit, saying that Moscow will have no choice but to retaliate.
Speaking at an extended meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry, Putin blamed the West for increasing tensions under the pretext of a threat from Russia.
Putin said that Western countries are inventing a Russian threat to intimidate their own populations. He added that it is all part of what he calls hybrid war, continuing countries it does not want to conform to its policies for the west including Russia.
The specific country mentioned by the Russian president was NATO; the president stressed that the alliance has been raising its military activity on the Russian borders.
He stressed that NATO has increased its military expenditure and positioned such forces as strike forces near Russian territory. Also, Putin highlighted the increase of the number of American soldiers in Europe, which already exceeds 100 thousand.
Putin criticised the shift of attention toward the Asia-Pacific region by NATO. He stated that the United States has forged new military alliances that undermine the stability of the existing security architecture in the region still further.
The prospect viewed as a problem by Putin is an improvement of high-precision ground-based missiles by the United States with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers.
He pointed out that if such missiles are placed in forward areas, Russia will not have any restriction rules that it had followed when under the now-combined Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
However, as a consequence of these growing tensions, Putin conveyed that Russia is nonetheless ready on the aspect of navy. He said the process of re-equipping of Russian armed forces is continuing, 95% of the country’s missile and strategic nuclear forces already equipped with new weapons.
He also spoke about the serial production of the Oreshnik intermediate-range missile system, which will be launched soon.
Putin said that Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces remain the foundation for the country’s defense from outside interference and its territorial integrity.
He said it was necessary to maintain permanent combat readiness of Russia’s non-strategic nuclear forces and further practice launching exercises involving these systems.
Nevertheless, he emphasized that nuclear weapons are for a deterrence purpose only: they are a major element for ensuring the balance in the world.
Of special emphasis in the Russian leader’s comments was the deployment of US missiles.
He re-emphasised that Russia would do it by ending all of the voluntary restrictions they had placed on their own missile systems if the US decided to go forward with deploying such weapons.
He also discussed the situation in Ukraine, stating that in the military process Russia has achieved a lot. He stated that Russian forces managed to overtake 189 settlements in the last year.
This statement shows Russia is not relenting in the efforts to expand her territorial boundary as has been condemned by the international community and still faced with fierce resilience by Ukraine.
The speech reflected Putin’s anger with the West and his readiness to act more decisively in what he sees as raised aggression from his side.
Connecting the aggressiveness of NATO in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region with global confrontation, he tried to present Russia’s military build-up as a reaction to the latter.
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