Putin Says Russia Will Be Forced to Target Any Nations Hosting U.S. Missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that if the...
Such a move would be a repeat of a Cold War showdown in the 1980s, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent, the Russian leader said. “If they are deployed in Europe, we will naturally have to respond in kind,” Putin said at a news conference after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte who added the European Union to end sanction on Russia, he further stated he is committed to boosting trade with Moscow, despite the sanctions. “The European nations that would agree to that should understand that they would expose their territory to the threat of a possible retaliatory strike. These are obvious things.” He continued: “I don’t understand why we should put Europe in such a grave danger.” “I see no reason for that,” Putin said. “I would like to repeat that it’s not our choice. We don’t want it.
President Vladimir Putin also hailed new missiles in Russia’s military arsenals but, Thursday emphasized that the country would only use its nuclear weapons in response to an incoming missile attack. He voiced confidence that Russia could resist Western pressure include sanctions. He expressed hope that U.S. President Donald Trump eventually would move to rehabilitate the fractured ties between Moscow and Washington.
Speaking at an international policy forum in Sochi, Putin noted that Russia’s military doctrine doesn’t envisage a preventative nuclear strike. He said Moscow only would tap its nuclear arsenal if early warning systems spotted missiles heading toward Russia. “Only when we become convinced that there is an incoming attack on the territory of Russia, and that happens within seconds, only after that we would launch a retaliatory strike,” he said during a panel discussion at the forum.
“It would naturally mean a global catastrophe, but I want to emphasize that we can’t be those who initiate it because we don’t foresee a preventive strike,” Putin said. “The aggressor should know that retaliation is inevitable, and he will be destroyed.” “We would be victims of an aggression and would get to heaven as martyrs,” while those who initiated the aggression would “just die and not even have time to repent,” he added