Putin: We'll 'Think' About Supplying Weapons to Hit West

Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory. He also reaffirmed Moscow's readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty, the AP reports. The recent actions by the West will further undermine international security and could lead to "very serious problems," Putin said, taking questions from international journalists—something that has become extremely rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine. He spoke to senior news leaders of international news agencies for more than three hours.

Actions by the West "would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way," Putin added.

• The US and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit certain targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv. On Wednesday, a Western official and a US senator said Ukraine has used US weapons to strike inside Russia under newly approved guidance from President Biden that allows American arms to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. GOP Sen. Mike Rounds confirmed the strikes but didn't say how he was briefed, the Guardian reports.
• Putin claimed that using some Western-supplied weapons involves military personnel of those countries controlling the missiles and selecting targets, and therefore he said Moscow could take "asymmetrical" steps elsewhere in the world. The US military said it does not control the missiles it provides to Ukraine or the targets.

• "If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don't we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia?" Putin said. "We will think about it," he told the journalists on the sidelines of the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
• Asked whether Russia could resort to using nuclear arms, Putin said the conditions for utilizing that arsenal are clearly spelled out in Moscow's security doctrine. "For some reason, they believe in the West that Russia will never use it," he said.
• Putin also said nothing will change in terms of Russia-US relations regardless of whether Biden or Donald Trump wins the American presidential election in November. "We will work with any president the American people elect," Putin said. He also said Trump's felony conviction at his hush money trial last week was the result of "the use of the court system as part of the internal political struggle." He claimed the case had "burned" the idea of the US as a leading democracy, the Guardian reports.
• Asked by the AP about the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Putin said the US is "taking energetic steps" to secure his release.

(More Vladimir Putin stories.)