Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned in a brief statement that if Western nations provide Ukraine with long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia, "the nature of this conflict" will change to a direct war between NATO and his country.
- Claims Ukraine Needs NATO Satellites and Help to Strike Deep into Russia
- Says Move Will Shift Conflict from Russia-Ukraine to Russia-NATO-U.S.-EU
- Warns Russia Will Make Appropriate Decision Based on Threats
Here is full-text transcript of the statement in English.
What's happening is an attempt to manipulate perceptions. This is not about allowing or forbidding the Kyiv regime from striking Russian territory. They are already doing so with drones and other means. But when it comes to the use of long-range, high-precision Western weapons, that's a completely different matter.
The fact is—and I've mentioned this before, and any expert, both here and in the West, will confirm this—the Ukrainian army is not capable of carrying out strikes with Western-made modern long-range precision systems. They simply cannot do it. This is only possible with the use of satellite intelligence, which Ukraine does not possess. The data would have to come from satellites operated by the EU, the US, or, in general, NATO. That's the first point.
The second, and perhaps most important point, is that the flight missions for these missile systems can essentially only be input by NATO military personnel. Ukrainian military personnel cannot do this.
So, the issue is not about allowing the Kyiv regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It's about NATO countries taking a decision on whether to be directly involved in this military conflict.
If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States, and European countries in the war in Ukraine. It will be their direct involvement, and this, of course, fundamentally changes the nature of this conflict.
This would mean that NATO, the US, and European countries are at war with Russia. And if that is the case, considering the change in the nature of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats posed to us.
